The entire nation celebrated Dr.B.R. Ambedkar birth anniversary this year too, on April 14. Today we have to think over the real picture of our society. Does every citizen enjoy equal right, equal respect and equal opportunities?
In West Bengal, the names of a number of voters, mostly Muslims, have been deleted from the voter list. Dr. Ambedkar, who drafted the Constitution, gave the citizens the right to vote, but the Election Commission of India (ECI) has now snatched this important right without adopting the proper procedure. Dr. Ambedkar’s dream of social justice and equality now stands shattered.
On the eve of Dr. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, we should refresh our memory with Rohit Vemula’s suicide. Ten years ago, this student of Hyderabad Central University was traumatised to commit suicide by subjecting him to caste abuse. Recently a medical student of Kerala did not bear the discrimination of caste and was forced to end his life. Caste atrocities are going on unchecked.
The BJP government of Uttar Pradesh, marking Dr. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, proposed Murti Vikas Yojna to install Dr. Ambedkar’s statues in all 403 assembly constituencies at the cost of Rs. 403 crores. Will the garlanding of Dr. Ambedkar’s statues instil the ideals of equality, social justice and empowerment of weaker sections of society? Why don’t they establish Ambedkar academies in each of the 403 assembly constituencies to teach people Ambedkar’s ideals? The state fund thus would have been utilised more properly than the mere installation of his statues.
Is the Constitution of India framed by Dr. Ambedkar safe? The answer to this question is evident from the recent address of Justice B.V. Nagarathna, the would-be Chief Justice of India. Justice Nagarathna made very important remarks while addressing the 1st Dr. Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture at Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) in Patna. She observed that constitutional breakdown comes through a slow speed and does not occur in an open way. It is covert and not overt. It comes through a continuous weakening of constitutional institutions. The Election Commission of India (ECI), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Finance Commission, etc. are being weakened and do not function properly due to political interference. Thus, constitutional breakdown occurs in institutional structures slowly.
The Supreme Court Justice continued to be vigilant of such constitutional breakdown. She observed that the ECI should function independently, free from all sorts of political influences. She underscored the importance of autonomy for other central institutions. When the constitutional breakdown occurs slowly, everything looks doing its duty. In this condition, laws may be enacted but power is not effectively restructured because structural discipline no longer exists. The institutional structure must ensure impartiality and unbiasedness in their functioning.
The learned justice observed that the health of the Constitution depends on whether the institutions do their work for which they have been established. The legislature should deliberate effectively on laws for public welfare and not for mere formal approval. Likewise, executive should govern within the law rather than over it.
Digital Censorship: Freedom of expression is the right granted by the Constitution. A dynamic democracy breathes in freedom of expression and in free journalism. Democracy is not only an electoral process; it really exists in tolerance at the time of difference in opinion. Difference in opinion opens new avenues for action and planning for development. Today social media is a wide platform of different opinions. But the new rules of IT (February 2026) curbs this freedom granted by the Constitution. Sahyog portal is a platform to send notice to remove from social media undesired contents in a very short time, otherwise to bear heavy fines in the case of noncompliance. This indicates that we are going away from democratic values enshrined in the Constitution.
Unfinished Agenda of BJP Government: On SthapnaDiwas (Foundation Day) of BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled his achievements as the end of black laws of the British era, construction of Parliament building, 10 per cent reservation for the poor in general category, law to ban triple talaq, construction of Ram temple and many more. Now there are only two unfinished agenda of his party. First, one nation, one election. And the other, uniform civil code. One nation one election means holding polls of Assembly and the Lok Sabha simultaneously. This is what PM Modi says in public but there is more than this. He wants to accumulate entire power in his hands, like a monarch. He forgets that the Constitution drafted by Dr. Ambedkar gives India the status of a federal union within which states of the Indian Union form civil code he is to formulate. While attempting at introducing uniform civil code, previous governments always sought the consent of the Muslim minority. But the BJP-led NDA government surpasses every limit in this regard. In fact, the BJP wants to teach a lesson to Muslims for their love for India: why didn’t Muslims migrate to Pakistan? Why did they prefer to continue to live in their native land, India?