Interesting article! On Tue, 4 Feb. 2020, 6:56 pm V M, <vmin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2020/01/30/70-years-of-ambedkar-s-transformative-constitution > > Albert Einstein referred to Mahatma Gandhi when saying, “generations > to come will scarce believe that such a man ever in flesh and blood > walked on this earth” but the sentiment applies equally to Bhimrao > Ramji “Babasaheb” Ambedkar. > > If ever there was a right person in the right time and place, it was > this remarkable scholar and warrior for social justice, whose personal > imprint is evident throughout the Indian constitution which celebrated > its 70thanniversary earlier this week. That historic milestone was > commemorated by countless young citizens in public rallies across the > country, standing together to voice anew its stirring, timeless > aspirations: justice, liberty, equality, fraternity. > > Ambedkar had no illusions about what he helped to put together with > hundreds of members of the Constituent Assembly. He said, “the > constitution is not a mere lawyer’s document, it is a vehicle of life, > and its spirit is always the spirit of the age” while cautioning, “if > I find [it] being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.” > > Thus, seventy years on, it’s immensely moving to witness India’s > youngest adults defending constitutional values against sustained > assault from the country’s own leadership, especially via the > Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). > > As the activist-author Harsh Mander puts it, “this long night of > darkness has suddenly been interrupted by bursts of light in every > corner of the land...The popular movement led by India’s young for > solidarity, for Hindu-Muslim unity, for a just and kind country, is > picking up the unfinished business of the freedom struggle.” > > In fact, the marvelously inclusive resistance spilling so much energy > and excitement into India’s public spaces is substantially > Ambedkarite, which is why his portrait and his constitution are its > natural rallying points. It was very revealing that when Ram Guha - > the great Gandhi biographer – was aggressively dragged away > mid-television-interview by the Bangalore police last December, he was > holding up an Ambedkar poster. > > There would seem to be an inherent paradox when a document of supreme > law – for that’s what a national constitutions is - simultaneously > seeks to nurture and abet revolution. Yet, it’s what Ambedkar sought > to deliver, saying at the time, “How can people divided into several > thousands of castes be a nation? The sooner we realise that we are not > as yet a nation in the social and psychological sense of the world, > the better for us…Without fraternity, equality and liberty will be no > deeper than coats of paint.” > > No one understood those nuances better than this lifelong campaigner > against discrimination, whose birth into the Mahar caste (treated as > untouchables in Hinduism) provided perspective and motivation for his > life’s work. He made himself an unstoppable force: the first South > Asian to earn a foreign doctorate in economics – at Columbia > University in New York – which he capped with another one from the > London School of Economics, while also being called to the Bar at > Grey’s Inn, then serving as independent India’s first Minister for Law > and Justice. > > With the hard-won lessons of that astonishing life journey embedded > throughout its logical and legal framework, Ambedkar’s document is a > foremost example of what the UK-based legal scholar Upendra Baxi > describes as “a transformative constitution” in “pursuit of the > politics of human hope” that “may, in some contexts of history, carry > a transformative burden, character, or potential.” > > Several years ago, Baxi wrote that this aspect of transformative > constitutions (he also classifies those of South Africa and Brazil in > this category) become especially potent when adopted by “the voices of > human and social suffering” and “communities of resistance.” This is > precisely what’s underway at this juncture across the vast diversity > of India, accompanied by the mass rallying of the most politically > marginalized and disenfranchised segments of the electorate. > > Where will all the tumult lead? No one knows, and it’s impossibly > difficult to say. One fact that isn’t going to change is the BJP > leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah continues to possess an > unassailable majority in Parliament, and the egregious, unnecessary > implosion of the Congress Party has left it no serious nationwide > opposition. Shah keeps declaring, “we will not budge an inch on CAA” > and there’s no reason to disbelieve him. > > In the meanwhile, his ruling disposition has become haughtily imperial > in its peremptory actions, in an astonishing breakdown of due process, > amidst widespread trampling of individual and collective rights. > > One bizarre but illustrative example played out at warp speed this > week, after the politically-minded comedian Kunal Kamra mildly harried > the regime’s favourite media attack dog, Arnab Goswami, on a flight, > and posted the video on social media. He was quickly banned by several > airlines, and possibly the national rail network as well. The veteran > editor Tony Joseph tweeted, “The story is no longer about > inconveniencing someone on an aircraft. It is about unwarranted, > illegal, dictatorial misuse of state power against an individual.” > > Ambedkar predicted just this when he delivered his constitution, > warning “in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion > or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude > by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the > world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. > But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation, > and to eventual dictatorship.” >