Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 23 January, 2024.
The 26th of January this year marks the 74th anniversary of the proclamation of India as a Republic. On this day in 1950, the Constitution of independent India came into effect.
Life experience over the past 74 years shows that the Indian Republic is in all aspects diametrically opposite to what the Constitution proclaims.
The Directive Principles (Part IV of the Constitution of India) proclaim that state policy will be directed towards ensuring to everyone the right to work and earn a secure livelihood. The reality is that unemployment has grown to record levels. The situation is so desperate that unemployed youth are being promised jobs in Israel to replace Palestinian workers.
The Directive Principles declare that state policy will ensure that economic development does not lead to the concentration of wealth in very few hands. The reality is that the Indian state has been directing its policy towards enriching a wealthy minority at the expense of the toiling masses of people. The richest 1 percent of the population own more than 40 percent of the wealth.
Even the most basic problems have not been solved. About 41 percent of the people do not have pucca houses. Around 30% of houses do not have access to toilets. Good quality education for all children remains an empty promise. Children of workers and peasants face discrimination in education from early childhood. About 25 percent of children in the 14-18 age group cannot read what is taught in Class 2. They cannot even perform simple additions and subtractions. According to government health statistics, more than 45 million children suffer from stunted physical and mental growth on account of malnutrition.
Women have been organised to play a prominent role in the Republic Day parade this year. This is being promoted as a sign of how much the state has done for the emancipation of girls and women in our country. The truth is that women and girls continue to be victims of a terribly oppressive and exploitative order, which the state defends. The sexual harassment faced by women at the hands of those in power has been starkly exposed once again by the recent courageous struggle of women wrestlers.
The Preamble of the Constitution declares that the Indian state is a democratic Republic. The fact that elections are held periodically is cited as evidence. However, elections in the present system are a highly unequal contest. They are dominated by bourgeois parties with multi crore campaign budgets. It is almost impossible for those who represent workers’ and peasants’ interests to be elected.
The people who vote have no say in the selection of candidates. Using their money power and domination of the media, the bourgeoisie gets one of their trusted parties to win elections and form the government. After the elections, there is no way for the people to ensure that those elected act in their interests. They do not have the right to recall their elected representative if he or she acts against their interest. People are effectively reduced to being bystanders in the entire decision-making process, bereft of any power to influence it.
The declaration in the Constitution that this is a secular Republic stands completely exposed today. The state machinery is deeply entrenched in religious affairs. There is rampant discrimination based on religious belief and caste. Thousands of people have been killed in repeated incidents of state-organised communal violence.
The reason why reality is the opposite of what the Constitution claims is because supreme power was transferred by the British rulers to the Indian bourgeoisie in 1947. The India Independence Act transferred sovereignty from the British Crown to the Constituent Assembly of India, which was dominated by representatives of big capitalists and big landlords. The Constituent Assembly adopted a constitution that legitimizes a system in which decision-making is firmly in the hands of the bourgeoisie. The Preamble and the Directive Principles were meant to promise whatever the people yearned for, while hiding the true nature of the state.
The Constitution of India does not vest sovereignty, that is, decision making power, in the hands of the people. The Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister has exclusive right to make policy decisions. The Parliament has exclusive right to make new laws. People have no role in deciding what should be the laws and policies.
The Indian state is an instrument of the rule of the bourgeoisie. All the institutions of the Republic — the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary — work to implement the program of the bourgeoisie. Those who oppose the agenda of the bourgeoisie face the lathis and bullets of the security forces. They are deemed to be criminals and thrown into jail. There are almost five lakh prisoners in Indian jails today, of which 70 percent are yet to be convicted of any crime.
The people of our country aspire for liberation from all forms of exploitation and oppression. To fulfill this aspiration, the rule of the bourgeoisie must be replaced by the rule of workers and peasants. Only then can all forms of exploitation be eliminated and the economy be oriented to fulfill the people’s needs and not to fulfill capitalist greed.
We must establish a new kind of Republic, whose constitution vests sovereignty in the people. The constitution must ensure that the executive is accountable to the legislature and the legislature is accountable to the electorate. It must provide for a political process in which the toiling people play a decisive role. All eligible voters must play an active role in selecting the candidates, before electing one of them. They must also enjoy the right to recall their elected representative at any time, and the right to initiate legislation. All residual powers, including the right to reformulate the constitution, must vest with the people.
In sum, what is needed is the Navnirman of the Indian Republic. Only then can prosperity and protection be guaranteed for all members of society.