Hail Voter! The Fifth Estate That’s Making Bharat 2.0

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to get 400+ seats as it had imagined, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has succeeded in managing to retain power for the third term. Conversely, the instantaneous gain of the 2024 elections is that the country’s voters have zealously protected the Constitution with collective consciousness.

One should recall former Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud’s powerful notes in the Minerva Mills case: “The Constitution provides us the obligation of securing to the people liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship; equality of status and opportunity and the assurance that the dignity of the individual will at all costs be preserved”.

What would happen to these core constitutional values, if remembered or forgotten during ‘politics’, especially when elections are held?  

 It’s become trendy to name B R Ambedkar, by ostentatiously showing the ‘book’ -- the Constitution. But this tendency is conspicuous when some leaders say that “It is not just a book, the Constitution reflects the thinking of Guru Nanak and other greats.” Some others say that, “When the BJP and RSS people attack it, they attack the country’s history and its heart. The most important thing in this election is the mission to protect Ambedkar’s Constitution”.

Before the conclusion of the 2024 elections, almost every political party frequently referred to the ‘Constitution’, expressing concerns about the possible changes or retention. Next, a staid ‘current’ issue was about “400+ seats in Lok Sabha”. Some campaigners like Congress leader Rahul Gandhi symbolically waved a copy of the Constitution in public rallies, declaring that this election was about “saving the Constitution”. This slogan resonated everywhere.

Scholars Yamini Aiyar and Neelanjan Sircar have observed in The Hindu newspaper: “The voters should understand the important distinction between constitutional principles and ordinary laws. Constitutional principles frame fundamental rights and are of a “higher order” that every citizen must obey. Ordinary laws, on the other hand, are rules, often guided by constitutional principles, that govern society. Ordinary laws, in India, regularly police our spaces. They discriminate and are used coercively by the state in ways that undermine freedoms and disempower citizens. Laws that police who you can marry, whether you can use the Internet, and what you can eat are some illustrations of this. However, these laws can also be challenged and changed. Constitutional values provide the basis for challenging discriminatory law, say the scholars”.

Rahul Gandhi on Saving Ambedkar’s Constitution

While referring to the concept of ‘reservations” in education and jobs, Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying: “dangerous… they will scrap and tear up Ambedkar’s Constitution and throw it away”. In Uttar Pradesh, while observing the trends, Yamini Aiyar noted that meetings were adorned with flags of Ambedkar with the tagline, ‘Kalam ka Badshah’ (Emperor of the Pen) -- an allusion to the seminal role played by Ambedkar in drafting the Constitution of India.

“The rhetoric of “changing the Constitution” challenges the very principles upon which this Nation was founded. And, it is this idea that is causing dissension among voters with the BJP’s logic of cross-caste political mobilization. The re-emergence of the grammar of the Constitution, rights, and reservations in the 2024 election must not be misread as getting back to the Mandal politics of yore. There is something far more significant at play here” she wrote.

Implement the “Preamble”

It is our duty to implement the pledge, as described in the Preamble of our Samvidhan. An Indian should not allow somebody to grow to the level above that pledge, be it the President or Prime Minister, Governor, or Chief Minister.

As a student and teacher of the rule of law, it may be mentioned that in the process, opposition INDIA bloc also saved India and its democracy. This election is a dictator’s defeat.  For instance, Jaganmohan Reddy is considered a dictator in Andhra Pradesh. While the BJP government, though it got the numbers, fell short of majority, was also run by a ‘dictator’.

Mere worship is not enough. There is no use of doing Ganga Aarti without cleaning it. Reading the Preamble is only a first step. Falling before Parliament, prostrating, doing Pushpanjali and Shraddhanjali is fine, but what matters is imbibing the values of the Constitution.

 If the 2024 election was indeed a struggle for the upkeep of 'the Constitution', then the silence tells us as much about the critical fault lines that our polity has to confront, akin to the possibilities of a more substantive politics of rights and equality, as stated by scholars. But the voters have understood that there was a great need for protecting the Constitution.

Stop Hate Crime During Third Term

The Prime Minister asserting that a third term to “the NDA was historic”, acknowledged the role of women voters in these polls for their larger turnout. He quixotically termed himself as having been “blessed” with divine prowess.

Despite many irregularities, ranging from violation of the Model Code of Conduct, rules of the Election Commission, the hype generated around Ayodhya, to the misuse of Constitution, to make a former Chief Justice of India accept the offer of a Rajya Sabha seat, finally Lord Ram seems to have saved all from the misinterpretation and distortion of Ram Rajya. People blessed BJP with a third term but with a caveat that restricted hate crimes through an ‘alliance’.

The stark reality is that the NDA government is reliant on ventilator support from two key allies, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United). The grim picture is the big picture.

At a time when the Three Estates -- executive, legislative and judiciary -- were totally under the grip of the ruling party, the only hope was a vibrant, responsible Opposition. In the absence of an active Fourth Estate, the media, which is vicariously controlled, the judiciary still seems to be the final refuge with hopes hinging on public interest litigations. However, a great threat to justice is lurking in the form of pendency of cases, which may lead to no case being listed or tabled in the Supreme Court or High Courts.  

Now is the time to put into service the promise made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who said that the people of the country, especially those from Uttar Pradesh, took the first step in protecting the Constitution, and gave election results that have comprehensively brought coalitions back at the centre of national politics after a decade’s gap.

Constitutional Need for ‘Opposition’

One proposition is to retain the power to question the government. Unfortunately, there has been no recognised Leader of the Opposition (LoP) since 2014. Parliament needs an active, responsible, and responsive Opposition that would not only put a check on the government but also reshape its concepts and policies.

The Congress is now entitled to the status of the official LoP (Cabinet rank). To save the Constitution, it is imperative that there is a strong Opposition that continually works out ways and means to stymie ‘dictatorship’.

Not just in Parliament or Lok Sabha, there should be a strong opposition within the NDA, too. Hope lies in two significant leaders within NDA, Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar. Having secured 28 seats together, they can check the power balance in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Both Naidu and Kumar have in the past publicly repudiated Modi. In March 2018, the TDP, which was integral to the NDA’s first term, snapped ties with BJP over the denial of ‘special category status’ to Andhra Pradesh. The TDP had also subsequently moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government and joined hands with Congress and the rest of the Opposition ahead of the 2019 elections. Naidu returned to the NDA’s fold just ahead of the 2024 elections. Also, following the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, TDP was the first NDA ally to demand Modi’s resignation as Chief Minister.

‘Anti-National Schemes’

In an instance of flak, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar raised criticism against the Agnipath scheme by asking whether it is called ‘employership’ or ‘public army’ or a ‘farmer army’. He opined that some members might turn into ‘private army’ persons, and felt that it should be scrapped and cannot even be prescribed as a ‘scheme’.

JD(U) leader and the party’s principal spokesperson KC Tyagi said that “a section of voters has been upset over the Agniveer scheme. Our party wants those shortcomings which have been questioned by the public to be discussed in detail and removed,” Tyagi was referring to the simmering anger among the youth over the controversial scheme for short-term induction of soldiers.

He said the Agnipath scheme was a major departure from the military’s decades-old recruitment system, which was eventually scrapped in June 2022. Agnipath seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in regular service. Those recruited under the new scheme are called Agniveers.

Regarding Uniform Civil Code, Tyagi said his party was not against it, but wanted all communities to be taken on board. “We are not against Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the CM (Nitish Kumar) has written to Law Commission chief… there should be a discussion with all the stakeholders - be it various CMs, different political parties, different sects - and the issue should be resolved,” he said. Asked about the national caste census, Tyagi said no political parties had spoken against the demand for a nationwide caste census.

Vox Populi: Bharat in Republic 2.0

The Constitution is now in the hands of the fifth estate – the voters. Something that can deciphered from the outcome of this election is that the message from our citizens, who have liberated themselves from the shackles of religion and region, caste and clan, sect and language, has become clearer and louder.

Thanks to the citizen/voter, with its questioning of power, not giving BJP an absolute majority, and opposing the efforts to make the Executive (sailing with mainstream Fourth Estate) grab absolute power, it is time to hail to the voter --the Fifth Estate!

M Sridhar Acharyulu is Professor, Mahindra University, Hyderabad. The views expressed are personal.