Our Constitutions 60th birthday!!

Saare Jahan Se Acha Hindustan humara....

Since its very first mention by Mr. Muhammad Iqbal( he then swung like a pendulum and proposed a 2 nation theory ), this phrase has been immortalized by the utterances of many.
60 years ago we formally adopted our constitution and the nation presented itself a sacred document that was to guide us into a new era. It promised us a LOT!

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.

Can we proudly sing about the achievement of these ideals?We have been successful in our holding of "free and fair elections". Nehru sowed in us the democratic ideals pretty well and the "fledging and largest democracy" is what we are reaping.

The document has been fairly respected for what it is, but what about the justice, liberty, equality and the fraternity it visions for ALL its citizens. What seems prevalent is the Justice, as talked about by Thrasymachus in Plato's Republic, as "the interest of the stronger" . The Jessica Lall case and then the elevation of the judge S L Bhayana to the High Court,the Saumitra Sen episode and the remarks of our CJI drives home the point.

We do enjoy our Liberty of expression.Mr Hussein has had to flee the country and take refuge in some other nation, exactly because of this liberty that we enjoy and he thought he had. Of course we enjoy our liberty of religion and faith. Are we proud of what happened in Kandhamal and the numerous communal riots that have been waged in our country?Is this the fraternity and secularity our sacred document is talking about?

We are proud of our country and the ideals that it stands for, but things at times don't look that good and glossy. At times all that is shining is not the true and the incredible India.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore
Geetanjali(1912)