It is this living nature of the Indian Constitution that has the potential to be used both as a bulwark against brute majoritarianism and as a hammer to chip away at the rights and freedoms of citizens.
Recent developments indicate that the ruling party’s sights might be set on not just altering constitutional values, but on replacing and enacting a new Constitution of India.
On Independence Day 2023, two articles were published on Livemint and News18, authored by public personalities who are associated with the ruling party.
In one of the articles, Bibek Debroy, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Committee, argued that constitutional amendments won’t do and that we should draft a new Constitution. In the other article, Alok Bansal, Director of the India Foundation, argued that parliamentary democracy should be replaced with a Presidential form of government.
These articles prompted heated reactions from all quarters, and the Central government quickly issued statements distancing themselves from the authors’ opinions.
While the fears of some were assuaged, those of a more skeptical outlook believe that the government was merely testing the waters through the authors who were relative outsiders.
In his recent book entitled The Colonial Constitution, Arghya Sengupta argues that the fact that much of the Constitution is inspired by the Government of India Act, 1935 passed during the British rule in India, makes it a colonial document.
Source: Barandbench
