60th ANNIVERSARY of THE INDIAN Parliament.
On
May
13,
the
60th
Anniversary
of
the
Parliament
of
India
was
commemorated.
“We
the
people
of
India”
enacted,
adopted
and
gave
it
ourselves
the
constitution
on
November
25,
1949.
The
constitution
of
India
came
into
effect
on
January
26,
1950.
The
Day
is
observed
as
the
Republic
Day.
Under
the
new
constitution,
elections
to
the
LokSabha
were
held
and
the
first
LokSabha
was
constituted
in
April,
1952.
The
first
meeting
of
the
LokSabha
was
held
on
May
13,
1952.
Over
the
long
60
years,
India
is
the
largest
democracy
in
the
world
representing
1.2
billion
people
with
more
than
700
million
voters.
It
is
not
a
small
achievement.
It
is
gratifying
to
note
that
India
is
on
the
rails.
The
credit
for
the
success
goes
to
the
people
of
India
as
Speaker
of
the
LokSabhaMeira
Kumar
in
her
address
to
the
Special
session
of
the
LokSabha
on
May
13,
2012
rightly
said
“Simple
and
neglected
people
who
work
every
day
for
survival
also
take
part
in
the
elections
with
great
fervor.
The
faith
of
such
faceless
Indians
is
the
reason
for
the
success
of
our
democracy.”
I watched the televised proceedings of the special sessions of both LokSabha and RajyaSabha on May 13. The writ of the fore-thought and wisdom of the framers of the constitution particularly of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was running deep in the speeches of all prominent MPs. Speaker Meira Kumar took the lead and said “It is an irrefutable truth that democracy and caste system cannot go hand in hand. Democracy is based on equality while caste system on differences between socially inferior and superior. One of the two systems has to die. Today when we are collectively glorifying democracy with full zeal, we should also root out caste system with all the might at our command.” Leader of the Opposition in the RajyaSabhaArunJaitley described social justice as one of biggest challenges faced by the Indian democracy as parliament celebrated its 60th anniversary. BSP leader Maywati and others like Lalu Prasad Yadav and SharadYadav also spoke about the social justice and the under privileged. SharadYadav, referring to the often raised call for ending reservations, said that those coming up with the demand would have to justify the continuance of caste superiority. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the House in LokSabhaPranab Mukherjee and Leader of the BJP L.al KrishanAdvani spoke about tolerance and disagreement etc. which is the very essence of democracy. These sentiments found resonance across the political spectrum in the two houses of parliament.
I was reminded of the last speech of Dr. Ambedkar I the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949 before the constitution was finally passed and adopted. His tone was jubilant yet somber and reflective. The warnings he gave - place peaceful political protest in democracy, hero- worship or blind following of charismatic leaders and poltical democracy to become social and economic one retain their relevance perhaps more today than in 1949. Ambedkar advised to abandon bloody methods of revolution and hold fast to constitutional methods. He pleaded to observe caution and quoted Johan Stuart Mill not ‘to lay lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions.’ Ambedkar asserted “Bhakti in religion may be a road to salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.” Ambedkar added in his historic speech that we must not be content with mere political democracy. We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Ambedkar asked “What does social democracy mean?” and answered himself “It means a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity as principles of life. These were the reflections made by the architect of the Indian constitution which found mention in one way or the other in the special session of the parliament on May 13. Let me conclude with a poetic parlance of AllamahIqbal to the thoughts of Ambedkar which got sprinkled in the celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of the Indian Parliament:
उडाए कुछ बरक लाला ने कुछ नर्गिस ने कुछ गुल ने;
चमन में हर तरफ बिखरी हुई है दास्ताँ मेरी !
उड़ाई कुछ कुमारिअनो ने तुतिओं ने अन्द्लिवो ने;
चमन वालों ने मिलके लूट ली तर्जे फुग्हन मेरी !