(This is the latest edition of the Political Line newsletter curated by Varghese K. George. The Political Line newsletter is India’s political landscape explained every week. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)
There are three broad views regarding the salience and relevance of the Indian Constitution that are being debated in the country. The first two fear the BJP might change the Constitution, and though they share the fear, their rhetoric is different from each other; the third one clamours for changing the Constitution, and hopes the BJP will do exactly that in the third term. We must note that the Constitution keeps changing — there have been over 100 amendments to it already — and the change that we talk about in this context is fundamental and comprehensive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi engages with only one of these three views on his party’s approach towards the Constitution, and there is a reason for that.
The first, a broad liberal argument with regard to the BJP and its approach to the Constitution, is articulated here by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey.
