India, as it stands

AS India moves into another General Election and the world watches with interest at one-sixth of humanity engage itself in yet another exercise to elect its political leaders, another Republic Day arrives as a poignant reminder of the central foundational principles of modern India. We have, of course, come a long way since the time the Republic was set up. Hundreds of millions of voters will now use electronic voting machines, but it was not so long ago that ballot boxes and electoral officers were sent to disparate corners on the country on the backs of elephants and camels. We have progressed in many areas and possibly regressed in some. But there is something that keeps India moving forward, together.

The very fact that the largest democracy of the world has continued to elect its political leadership consistently for more than half a century speaks volumes for the idea at the root of what India is, and what its people wish it to be, even if some tend to forget it from time to time. The idea of India has been described by many people in many ways. But if one was to identify a single concept that would define India since independence, it would surely be the idea that all its citizens are equal. This is what binds a nation known for its immense plurality and diversity into one single whole. It is true that, civilisationally, the country has been woven into a single canvas over the centuries. But what the ideology of equality does is to provide the political, economic and social basis for a modern and modernising India. From this concept, flow the others 8212; like democracy, secularism, social justice and other fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The Republic Day, therefore, is not merely a day for parades, honours, awards and celebrations. On this day we had adopted a mechanism in the shape of the Constitution, not only to make laws to govern ourselves but also to lay down the directive principles that guide us in our endeavour to build the nation. It is a reminder that a billion people are engaged in what is arguably human history8217;s most ambitious experiment: to transform a static and stratified society into an egalitarian system; a bottomless pit of poverty and superstition into a dynamic powerhouse of peace and prosperity; an essentially agrarian economy into a modern, industrialised system. We can only achieve the results we want through a process of consultative politics based on the idea of equality. Any dilution or erosion of this core value undermines India8217;s security in its broadest sense 8212; and its very existence as we have known and wanted it.