India's basic constitutional Values need eternal Vigilance

We must illuminate the Constitution by understanding the idea of India. That is neither uniformity nor homogeneity, nor unity upon diversity, but unity in diversity

- Abhishek Singhvi

If, as Abraham Lincoln said, "The most reliable way to deal with the future is to create it", our faith in our Constitution must be reinforced on its 75th birthday, since it has served us so well in the past.

India appears to be the sole, shining exception of a continuing vibrant democracy, emerging from the yolk of imperialism along with 30-40 other nations between the 1930s and 1960s, while the wrecks and ruins of failed constitutionalism litter the constitutional landscape across Asia, Australasia, Africa and South America.

Part of that secret sauce, apart from the jugalbandi of Gandhi and Nehru or the trinity of India's GNP (Gandhi-Nehru-Patel), must be shared with the vision of this basic document.

Secondly, our Constitution operationalises several institutional and non-institutional pillars.

The much-abused secularism conveys a sense of co-ownership of democracy, a sense of attachment and belonging of each Indian to a part of that document amidst the salad bowl or melting pot of pluralism and diversity which must be the guiding polestar for planet earth's most diverse spot.

Thirdly, secularism is ably cross-fertilised and reinforced by the pillar of Fraternity, conveying the essence of positive coexistence, not merely insipid tolerance.

Fourthly, federalism, not found anywhere in the world's longest Constitution, has unprecedentedly been held to be a part of our basic structure, acting as a vital valve, a special pressure cooker, to channel dissent, discomfort, and dissatisfaction by quarantining conflicts at local decentralised spots instead of allowing explosions at the centre.

A unitary or, at best, a quasi-federal constitutional design by our founding fathers has transformed itself through inadvertent and accidental federalism.