J Singh

Farmers' Mahapanchayat in Jind, part of country-wide farmers' actions on Republic Day, January 26, 2023.

January 26 marked the 76th anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution of India. It's a time for reflection and drawing conclusions about the state of affairs when a constitution concentrates all power of the state and governments in the hands of elites.

According to data collected, every 15 minutes four Dalits and Adivasis are subject to atrocities. Every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalit men are murdered and 11 are beaten. Every week, 13 Dalits are murdered and houses of five Dalits are set on fire. In the 76 years of this constitution, hundreds of millions of Dalits have been subjected to atrocities.

Tractor march in West Bengal, January 26, 2023.

This Republic Day finds tremendous amounts of wealth created by workers, farmers and toilers concentrated in few hands of the corporate families Adani, Ambani, Tata, Birla and others. The data released by national and international organisations and agencies announces this stark reality. Income inequality looms large over India, and wealth inequality even larger. The richest 10 per cent hold 65 per cent of the wealth in the country; the top one per cent alone holds about 40 per cent. This Republic Day also finds most of Indian cities choking people with toxic air, broken roads, piles of garbage, filthy streets and traffic jams.

According to government data, in the last 76 years, more than 140 million children have been killed by malnutrition. Another 150 million children have been killed by drinking dirty water. More than 40 million people have been displaced by "development" projects. All the concessions that people had won by shedding torrents of blood are under attack and the ruling elite has withdrawn even the right to vote of millions of people.

It's not a coincidence or about bad people in power, whose main qualifications are their corrupt character, ability to swindle, lie and persecute the peoples who rebel against them. The current state of affairs is the result and development of the path chosen by those to whom power was transferred by the British in 1947. They were collaborators of the British one and all when the constitution was framed in a manner to deprive the people of their right to take the decisions which affect their lives. Those who framed the Constitution of India did not want to break with the colonial institutions with which their interests were intimately tied. They opted to continue a form of colonial rule without the colonialists directly implicated because their collaborators took their place, serving the same interests. It does not come as a surprise that more than 90 per cent of the Constitution of the Republic of India is comprised of the Government of India Act promulgated by the British in 1935 [1].

One can see how much the colonial act of 1935 is incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic of India [2]. In fact, a large number of colonial laws are still on the books, enforced even today, because this legalises and facilitates the loot, plunder, suppression and genocide carried out by the ruling elites.

Farmers' Mahapanchayat in Jind on Republic Day, January 26, 2023

The first three words of the preamble of the constitution "We the People" are the most deceptive. The peoples of India had nothing to do with the framing of the constitution. At that time, the franchise, based on property considerations, was limited to 12 per cent of adults. In what were known as the princely states which made up 60 per cent of what comprised the territory of India at that time, elections did not take place. Only in 40 per cent of India were elections held. Close to 50 per cent of those considered qualified to vote did not vote. In other words, "we the people" comprised then and continues to comprise today those who framed the constitution to safeguard the interests of a handful of monopolies and landlords.

The constitutions of all liberal democracies established in the 18th and 19th centuries used the word people to mean white men with property. Slaves were considered property acquired in foreign conquest. Women were considered property and the colonial peoples were considered less than human. When the oppressed peoples fought for 200 years against brutal colonial rule and finally were accorded the right to vote, the kind of state established did not recognise their right to govern.

In the 20th century, the framers of the Indian constitution were forced to enshrine universal suffrage, provisions for reservations and limited workers' rights, and to make other concessions to quell the struggles of the people. Experience shows that, in the absence of enshrining enabling legislation which provides the right to elect and be elected with meaning to achieve the right of the people to vest the decision-making power in themselves, it is hollow indeed.

The 76th anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution of India finds the people of India - women, farmers, workers, students, youth, tribal peoples and intellectuals - on the barricades of the struggles being waged all over India to affirm the peoples' Right to Be and in defence of the rights of all and to make sure the natural environment is also protected. They are fighting in factories, fields, streets, courts, assemblies, schools, universities and all other arenas. It also finds the peoples of India developing their own outlook and the kind of consciousness required to save humanity and the planet from the vicious attacks of the oligarchs to maximise their profits. As the corporate criminals intensify their attacks, the streets of India are resounding with Inquilab Zindabad, Sarbat Da Bhala (Long Live the Revolution, Equality for All) and One Humanity One Struggle, Another World Is Possible.

People of India have discovered from their own experience that liberal democracy enshrined in the constitution of 1950 does not affirm them, their rights and their being. No matter how loud the ruling elite and their parties shout from Red Fort or TV channels, people are finding out that their security depends on their struggle and unity. As Bhagat Singh wrote:

Usey Fiqr Hardam Naya TARZ E Jaffa Kya Hai
Hamein Hai Shauq Dekhen Sitam Ki Intiha Kya Hai

(Oppressors are devising new means of oppression everyday
Our passion is to end all oppression)

With these thoughts, people across India are wishing a happy Republic Day to all and are appealing to join all those who are fighting for renewal and renovation of all relations between humans and humans and humans and nature. Farmers in all parts of India are carrying out tractor marches to highlight their demands and determination to build a better world that ensures a life of dignity and justice for all.

Notes
1. Government of India Act, 1935
2. Constitution of India, January 26, 1950
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/237570/

(TML Monthly Supplement, January 2026)

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