Monday, January 26, 2009

Thank God For Our Founding Fathers!!

The first time we read about our Constitution, about how Dr Ambedkar and his team, took three years to draft this empowering document that made us all equal and free and gave us the right to demand justice ... I was fascinated.

Usha Pisharody shares the fascination. Not for its record breaking volume, but for its Creator and its Content. Of course he did not do it single-handedly, but he did lead the team that did! I truly hate referring to caste, religion and class, but I am darned proud that this document of the highest order, of greatest reverence, worthy of high honour has been written by a man whose caste is that which learned men of yore called Dalit. The Untouchable.'

I have never got over this fascination.

When another blogger said he considers the Constitution his 'Holy Book', I wanted to cheer, 'So do I!'

But Alankrita is right when she says, '.... in a nutshell I think we have an awesome Constitution. But it is not respected as much as the Constitution here (the US) is. It should be paramount but it is not. Our leaders, our people do not respect as they should. My interest in the Indian Constitution revived after seeing the almost reverence they have for it here.'

PhoenixRitu says 'Our Founding Fathers valued Equality, Justice and Liberty and made them the pillars on which our country stands.'

And how thankful I am!

I totally share Indyeah's emotions, when she says (in a comment)

'... the one assuring thing however is ,in fact the silver lining, is that our CONSTITUTION at least has the laws in place.....YES, we do need more laws, more stringent ones and we also need to ensure that laws are applied forcefully...

This is why even a 12 year old in a village in Rajasthan can refuse to get married, can call the police and know what her RIGHTS are....
THis is why young women say to hell with dowry and refuse to get married...


The singular most important point is that when we arm a complete gender with that most powerful weapon of all.... with LEGAL RIGHTS that support her in a DEMOCRATIC country, then 50%of INDIA's population moves forward knowing that she will be supported, that the CONSTITUTION HAS GOT HER BACK!
Wouldn't we then say that thank god for INDIA's founding fathers? THANK GOD!!"


YES THANK GOD FOR OUR FOUNDING FATHERS!!

Never before in History have we been declared EQUAL in the eyes of the law, until this Constitution I am so proud of was drafted.

Our Founding Fathers made sure that For the first time in Indian History we, the aam aadmi, matter.

I wonder how many of us realise how fortunate we are. Would love to know what you think .

Anybody who reads this is TAGGED :)

Go ahead, write a Post, or at least leave a comment!

27 comments:

OG said...

you are absolutely right IHM....
great post
my fav. was this line:
Our Founding Fathers made sure that For the first time in Indian History we, the aam aadmi, matter.
--------------------
we do matter now....
brilliant...... as usual

Saritha said...

IHM your comment on hitchwriter made me realise indeed we have wiser forefathers who made our constitution.
Happy republic day

Usha Pisharody said...

IHM, indeed! I just got back from the Flag Hoisting and associated programmes in school. We heard of the constitution, and what a Republic really meant. We heard children speaking, singing patriotic songs... The band [all girl, and first time performance :)] playing the National Anthem.

It was a profound moment for me, this day. More so because of the new sensitivity to the entire issue of thanking God I am an Indian. I felt proud to salute the flag as it was hoisted. I sang along with "Jhanda Uncha Rahe Hamara"; in short, for the first time, perhaps, I enjoyed what used to be a boring day. I have to thank you and ever so many bloggers for helping me open my eyes, and heart for a Nation, as ours.

The young boy, who gave the speech in English spoke of the India of his Dreams, and some of what I can recall now are
-And India who will be among the most developed economically
-Who will shed her pseudo-secularism and be tolerant in the true spirit of the word
-Where my brothers and sisters in the North East and Kashmir will feel as protected as those in Delhi

And ended with a favourite song of ours. Imagine... modifying the lines slightly.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only One. I hope some day India will be Number One!"

To say that it was inspiring to hear it from the mouth of a youngster would be a total understatement. My heart swelled with Pride. I am an Indian!!! And none else would I be!

I loved this post too!

And thanks immensely... for, well.. just being there and making a difference! I am a living example :) :)

Bones said...

Happy Republic Day!!! I'm so glad I wasn't born across the border...

Anonymous said...

Absolutely IHM!! We are indeed lucky to be born now!!
Our constitution is best of both worlds! and i used to feel bad about Ambedkar's reservation policy when I was at school!! but today, I find, very many reasons to be proud and respect his work!! Common, he wrote a CONSTITUTION!!! Bowing!

Sagarone said...

I am sorry if I am the party pooper here. But someone has to point it out that the Constitution of India is the longest national constitution in the world. Perhaps due to the bureaucratic mindset of the people who wrote it. I do not know any person who has read it in its entirety.

The other point is that the Constitution by itself, did not empower us nor did it make us all equal or free, nor did it give us any right to justice.

That job was done by our forefathers who took part in the independence struggle and helped shape the society that sent members to the constituent assembly.

The constitution is a contract governing the relationship between the citizens and the state. It is a reflection of what the citizens of India at that particular time, expected from the government.

With the passage of time, our expectations may change and the Constitution has to be amended or rewritten to reflect that. Perhaps we should stop considering it sacred and revering it. Because it is just a reflection of us as a society at a particular time in our history.

Sagarone said...

And I am sorry but I take objection to the members of the Constituent Assembly being referred to as our Founding Fathers. Because it was not in their power to decide whether India was to become a republic or a monarchy or have some other system of governance. They just prepared a document according to the guidelines they were given. A clerical job at best.

Anonymous said...

This is very upbeat - I would have been so, but the Mangalore news item really upset me. You cheered me up and Usha's comment gave me hope. Yes, we bloggers have a theme song that I learnt today thanks to Usha, the new version of "Imagine". WE WILL WIN!

Gopinath Mavinkurve said...

Nice post on the occasion of R-Day, IHM. Certainly our forefathers have laid the strong foundation of our nation by having adopted the Constitution of India. Being an Indian who was born post independence, I ask myself what are we doing for the future generations, while we rest in the shade of the trees sown by our past generations. The least we can do is to follow the principles laid down by our constitution and let our children enjoy a secular, safe, fair, caring world where they can live their life to the fullest. While many do keep driving home the point that our constitution and our laws need to be revisited and changed to keep up with the times, I feel even if we strive to provide the essence of what an Indian citizen needs to do to see the wishes come to reality, it would be a great service to our country.

aShyCarnalKid said...

Well , I do not much about the Constitution to do a post on it . But yes , I am glad it is there , even with its imperfections . I wish it was shorter and more original . And I wish we did not have this PM-President , CM-Governor system . I think that is a burden on the tax-payer . But yes , it does promise everyone equal rights, at least on paper . God Bless Democracy .

Khushi said...

Yes IHM, we are truly lucky to be born in these times and in a country which has such a profound constitution! You made this Republic Day all the more special :)

Having grown up in a democratic nation, freedom of speech & political expression comes naturally to me. But on the other hand, its very saddening to see how the miscreants get away so easily after violating our basic rights. The MNS so easily violating the rights of indian nationals....banning Pak. music, inventing their regulations for shops nameplates...attack on girls in Manglore pub...Mayavati threating the press and the list goes on and on..

I would really like to know what is the current rate of amendments made to the constitution...so that such clear cases of violence do not go unpunished and that too in a reasonable amount of time (not years and years...)

Anonymous said...

Sorry dear,i couldn't make it..Caught up with some work.

I am always thankful for having born in india,especially in kerala,that too in this century :) During the coming years,i see more and more people hating each other,more mistrust etc etc..I am glad i will die by then ..

Happy Republic day dear...

Anonymous said...

Happy Republic Day! IHM.

Thankful that I am an Indian.

Pixie said...

Brilliant post as always!
Happy Republic Day my dear...

The only bad part is that in the companies I have worked so far, only my first company used to celebrate both Independence Day and Republic Day..
Here, it's just another holiday sadly...

Bud-Wiser said...

Our constitution only "assures" us of Justice, equality, and liberty!!!
Preamble makes use of words like
1)Democracy
2)Secular
3)Social

Democracy --> It is giving us the power to vote for a chap who is of our caste/religion/region, and after coming to power he will ensure that he does nothing for you.

Secular --> It gives us power to massacre minorities. No one needs an example, right?

Social --> It gives us power to go and molest gals in a pub.

Talk about constitution, ah? I am not sure if laloo and many others even know what that means.

Reema said...

Happy Republic Day to u! I took the tag and have written a post on some of my random thoughts on this day.

Anonymous said...

I have always believed that we have the best possible constitution in the worst possible hands... The only reason we are kind of surviving even with such politicians is that our founding fathers thought about the future. They thought what could happen? They left margin for the future. I wonder what will happen when things (i.e our politicians) dont change and this margin ends...


But on this day, I salute each and everyone who has shed blood, sweat or tear to ensure that I live safely and freely in my home. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I took this tag too... Would love it if you could read it and comment ..

http://lifealame.blogspot.com

Indyeah said...

IHM I want to feel upbeat...oh!so desperately want to...
It seems impossible to believe that we just discussed this....manusmriti..constitution....our rights......all this...and just now we come to this...
I came saw both your posts...and was heartbroken to see the contrasts ..what do we do?what do we do?how?why?so many questions...celebrate this constitution that Usha rightly says is a paper tiger or lament what we are seeing....on tv again and again and again...

Anonymous said...

Regarding your comment on my blog, I fear the exact same thing..Hindu Taliban! I wonder how far we are from it. By looks of it not too far :(

Arun.N.M. said...

Finally was able to respond to your tag.Read about the history of drafting of Indian constitution in my blog
http://mytake-charakan.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

IHM!! Proud, a bit still. Are we really really proud? I mean laws are there to protect people form whom people! We can theoretically proud of the constitution and not practically. for all practical purposes we still look at the religious doctrines which are filled with venom of hatred and division. So not yet there practically.

1conoclast said...

Sagarone...

1. Who do you consider our Founding Fathers to be?

2. You may want to refer to the following link I'm presenting. It should hopefully convince you of the fact that the Constituent Assembly was in fact not doing a clerical job but doing the actual drafting of our Constitution!

Dr. Ambedkar is not called the Father of the Constitution for nothing...

3. Also take a look at the members of the Constituent Assembly before you allude to either a dichotomy between our founding fathers & the members of the constituent assembly, or refer to them as clerks. :-)

A little caution is advised sir... the only other person who tries to run down our Founding Fathers or Dr. Ambedkar is that little runt, arun chorie!

Arun.N.M. said...

IHM,let me answer some comments about our Constitution.
Sagarone,As I said in my post on Constitution The Indian Constitution represent the basic principles of the Freedom movement.It has all its strengths and Dr Ambedkar and his team tried their best to rectify its weaknesses [like predominantly upper caste, urban ,and basically hindu].Being longest is not at all bad.As Ambedkar said 'it is better to forsee unusual circumstances and give provisions for that rather than to depend on future Parliament/Supreme Court'.Saying what Constituent Assembly did was a clerical job is doing a great disservice to amazing work they did. Each article were discussed threadbare by the leaders both in the Constituent Assembly and in most of the Provincial Assemblies before approval.Objecting to referring the members of the Constituent Assembly as founding fathers is being disrespectful of the freedom fighters.Almost all our Leaders except Gandhiji were members including Nehru,Patel,Maulana Azad,Rajendra Prasad etc etc.You may also remember the Costituent Assembly acted as our provisional Parliament from August 15 1947 to 1952 when the first General Elelction was held.
Kislay,you complained the Constitution was not original.This was how Ambedkar answered to that critisisim.
"One likes to ask whether there can be anything new in a Constitution framed at this hour in the history of theworld. More than hundred years have rolled over when the first written Constitution was drafted.What the scope of a Constitution should be has long been settled. Similarly what are the fundamentals of a Constitution are recognized all over the world. Given these facts, all Constitutions in their main provisions must look similar. The only new things, if there can be any, in a Constitution framed so late in the day are the variations made to remove the faults and to accommodate it to the needs of the country. The charge of producing a blind copy of the Constitutions of other countries is based, I am sure, on an inadequate study of the Constitution. I have shown what is new in the Draft Constitution and I am sure that those who have studied other Constitutions and who are prepared to consider the matter dispassionately will agree that the Drafting Committee in performing its duty has not been guilty of such blind and slavish imitation as it is represented to be.

Monika said...

i agree with the basic funda... I am proud of my forefathers but I think our constitution needs a overhaul...

go read the domestic violence clauses, the rape clauses.. so may of them they are so irrelevant now

1conoclast said...

Charakan,

Very well explained.

I was going to write a post about this, but you have explained it rather well.

Consider this:
-To every Indian, The Constitution should be religious law, right?
-The Constituent Assembly had people from all walks of life drafting it, dalit Dr. Ambedkar, upper caste Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, mozi Maulana Azad, secular-sanghi like Ramnath Goenka & avowed hindutvis like Shyama Mookerjee!
-If such a varied population came up with the law of the land, how dare anyone question it today??? (This is one of the reasons why I call the bjp anti-national, because they're anti-Indian Constitution!)
-The finest brains, from all over India get together & all they can manage to produce is a cheap imitation? And we call outselves Nationalists? Is that the respect we have for the men who forged India?

These allegations smack of rightist propaganda!

I request everyone not to believe the first statement they hear, but test it on the sach ki kasauti first!!!

1conoclast said...

Those interested in the proceedings of the Constituent Assembley may wanna have a look at the text on this link.