Lt Gen PG Kamath (Veteran)
The makers of our Constitution took several provisions from Constitutions worldwide and did a wonderful ‘Cut and Paste Job’ by modifying its provisions to suit the Indian Society. Though initially meant to be secular it turned out to be communal as the constitution enabled several provisions to favour one section of the populace at the expense of others. It was so blatant that the government hastened to enact the 42nd Amendment in 1976, to add the word ‘Secular’ as it had strayed far away from Secularism. Adding the word ‘Secular’ during the Emergency, showed the Congress government’s perfunctory commitment towards it though its policies and actions were profoundly communal.
What is the true meaning of a secular constitution? It means no religion should have any special relief or provisions in the constitution. Secondly, the government has no official religion.
Have we seen across the world, any country enacting a separate code bill for one section of the populace and leaving the rest to practice and propagate their religions without any government controls? Please read Art 30 of the Constitution which gives the Minorities the right to establish and Administer their Educational Institutions. Sub-Sec 2 of the same act also ensures that they are eligible for Government aid. Now, you know why Madrasas were funded by the Government. A similar provision is not available to the majority and it discriminates them outright and denies them the Right of Equality under Art 15 of the Constitution.
It also violates Art 26 of the Constitution and denies the majority community the right to manage their temple and religious institutions. The SC has averred in 2005; MP Gopalakrishnan Nair Vs State of Kerala that ‘Management of Temples is a secular matter and as such States can control the management of Temples. Though I am bewildered at its legal logic then the corollary is also true that ‘Management of Mosques and Churches is a Communal Act and the State cannot control them’. Imagine our legal community inertly nods their heads and accepts this weird logic.
Now let us talk of the Hindu Code Bill that was enacted between 1955-58, during the time of Mr J Nehru. They were discriminatory and violated the basic structure of the constitution that promised Freedom of Religion under Art 25 and violated Art 15 and 16 assuring no discrimination in matters of religion to any citizen of our country. While imposing a code on the Hindus, he did not temper with the personal laws of Muslims, Christians and Parsis. The majority population of this country were shackled and fettered in legal bind allowing minorities footloose in the field of religion, places of worship, minority institutions and religious education.
It was clear that the Indian Constitution lent itself to discriminating against the majority and pampering the minorities.
Though Mr. J Nehru implemented the Hindu Code he did not dare to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) that was recommended by the constitution makers. Art 44 recommending the implementation of UCC was shoved under the Directive Principles so that it never sees the light of day.
Then we go gaga over our constitution that overlooked the unity and integrity of the country and relegated those provisions which required hard decisions and soft-peddled and pushed them under the Directive Principles. It was a deliberate act of fooling the people as the constitution makers were aware that these provisions would remain atrophied and the polity would neither have guts nor any inclination to touch them for eternity. The UCC experiment is in progress in Uttarakhand and has progressed well. Similar is the case of Art 46 which prohibits the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught animals. It was a vile act of fooling the majority and appeasing the minorities by including it in the Directive Principles.
Hindu Code Bill – Arguments & Defence
Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb symbolizing the emergence of syncretic culture between the two religions and harmonizing it in tune for nation-building appears as a distant cry. The Tehzeeb is over 1500 years old; why still there are communal riots? Why don’t we consider the existence of both religions can build a strong nation? Why is India sitting on a barrel of communal explosives that a little spark could ignite an explosion? Why there is no reconciliation between the two religions? Why political leaders across the spectrum must parade their secular credentials by pandering to vote bank politics for the minorities? The answers to these questions are well known; dividing the populace into religion, language, castes, creeds, clans, and tribes helps the politicians to split votes and eke out a tender majority to enjoy the spoils of office. The caste census and such activities are no doubt aimed at widening the fissures in society and dividing the country. The fault lines in society are sustained, perpetuated, and proliferated by politicians. Religious education also plays a major part in accentuating the fault lines into deep fissures and chasms. The teachers in madrasas are the main instruments and find their relevance by inciting division in society. They are not educated in the real sense to build nationalism and work towards the integrity of our country.
The tenants of Islam are very clear that there is no reconciliation with any other religions across the planet till all the ‘Kafirs’ are either converted or liquidated. Islam cannot rest content till the goal of Global Islamization is complete. With this as their main theological pursuit; how can a madrasa education be in sync with the national mainstream? To be fair to them they are not alone in this pursuit as even the Dy CM of Tamil Nadu also wants to eradicate Sanatan Dharma.
Rather many state governments are funding Madrasa teachers and these madrasas are proliferating their fundamental ideals. The Right to Education Act was passed by the Congress Government in 2009 under Art 21A. It was a very enlightened decision. However, the same government developed cold feet and issued an amendment in 2012 exempting minority institutions including madrasas from its provisions under the appeasement policy ostensibly for protecting religious and cultural rights of minorities enshrined in Art 29 and 30.
In 2024 the SC ruled that any minority institutions fully or partially funded by the Government cannot enforce compulsory religious teaching. Though the SC has not debarred the Government from funding the Minority Institutions under Art 30(2); however, such institutions cannot impart compulsory religious education.
It also means that the Madrasa teachers cannot be paid by the Government under Art 27; as no one can be compelled to pay taxes for the payment of expenses or maintenance of religious denomination. This has been circumvented by the State Governments by founding ‘Madrasa Teachers’ Welfare Funds.’ However, no such funds are given to institutions of other religions in the country; still, we all believe that our Constitution is Secular. Just look at how the state governments are bending backwards and manipulating rules and provisions to appease minorities.
The Karnataka Government wanted to tax temples in addition to the revenues earned by the government and deposit the proceeds into the ‘Common Pool of Funds’ to be distributed to other places of worship. Still, we call our constitution secular. On 30 Dec 2021, Mr. DK Shivakumar, Dy CM of Karnataka (then state Congress President) said blatantly that the temples currently owned by the government were the state’s wealth and its treasury. He further said to the reporters that temples cannot be freed from government controls in Karnataka and the Congress will not allow it.
Look at the way he takes the Hindus for granted: The offerings of the Hindus to temples out of devotion are shamelessly appropriated by the Government. At the same time, he has also relegated God to the level of his incompetency saying that even God cannot change anything in Bangalore for the next two to three years. As temples belong to the Government; he can also be more specific about it; which God did he mean? God of the Majority or Gods of the Minorities?
Let us look at Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. This hallowed article is riddled with exceptions and court rulings that it is violated comprehensively in its implementation. Similar is the case of Art 16: Equality of Opportunity in a matter of Public Employment is riddled with exceptions.
Again, the Right of Freedom of Religion;’ Art. 25 to Art. 30 of the Constitution appears like a joke when considered in its applicability to the majority population. The enacting of the Hindu Code Bills and controlling Temples and their property and incomes is a gross violation of the Indian Constitution. Who is listening? Having Wakf Board and not having any other boards to control the Temple Properties; any takers; still do we want to call our constitution Secular? Art 27 Freedom from payment of taxes for the promotion of any particular religion is unambiguous; still, why did the government give Haj subsidies till 2018 collected from taxpayers’ money? In 2012-13 the Haj subsidies amounted to ₹ 830 crores. We need to thank the SC for ruling that it violated the constitution. Why has the Karnataka Government given 32 crores to build a wall for the protection of Wakf Properties for the year 2024-25 and 150 crores for repair, renovation of its properties and protection of their burial grounds; while not allocating similar funds for temples? Is not protecting Wakf properties tantamount to the promotion of a religion?
Again, the payment of honorariums to priests of all minority communities out of public exchequers; isn’t it illegal? Isn’t the money paid to them from the exchequer is funded by the taxpayers of all communities which is going exclusively to the priests from Minorities whose raison d’être of their existence is to promote their respective religions? Does it not violate the spirit of Art 27 and the ruling of SC?
The State of Tamil Nadu has given a Counter Affidavit Filed on Behalf of the Charitable Endowments Department that they have melted 500 Kgs of Gold offered by the devotees since 1977. The deposited gold earned an interest of 11 crores that was credited to the state exchequer. The Commissioner HR&CE Department of Tamil Nadu at the High Court of Judicature at Madras (WP Nos 22333 and 22334 of 2021); the Department has averred that these 11 crores have apparently been used for the renovation of temple. Just mark the word ‘apparent’; is the commissioner prevaricating? As he is the officer in charge, he should categorically state that the money was used for the renovation of temples which he does not say and uses the word ‘apparent’ probably to mislead the Court. Further, in the next case, another 42990.900 grams of Gold was retrieved from the offerings by the devotees. I am just taking examples at random to show the hold of the Government on temples and their properties in the so-called secular country, called India. The temple gold is not the property of the government and any decision on the melting of gold offered by the devotees ought to have been taken by its Trustee. As in most of the temples, the government has not appointed trustees and the state government has arrogated to itself the power of trustees and playing with the devotion of the devotees. Remember again this is a secular country on paper and a communal country in practice.
All these discriminations have been allowed by our sacred Constitution. It is the President of India who takes oath to be the preserver, protector and defender of the Constitution. All others only bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. It is the SC which should interpret the Constitution and give advice to safeguard the spirit of the Constitution.
As and when the constitutional values are breached by the government it is the duty of the President to intervene who may seek the advice of the Supreme Court and carry out the duties of office to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. It is for this reason the President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces where she can exercise her onerous duties towards the Constitution.
Why didn’t the First President Dr Rajendra Prasad intervene when the Hindu Code Bills were made into Act violating the fundamental clauses of the Indian Constitution by Mr. J Nehru? No one has yet dared to free Hindu Temples from Government control even when it directly violates Art 26; freedom for the Hindus to manage their religious affairs. Some state governments have done it others do not want to let go of their hold on the temples as it is a sure source of revenue for the governments to misuse its proceeds.
Have you seen any country that encourages evangelical activity by fraudulent means? Will the God whom they believe in, would be happy that his teachings have been misinterpreted and His Kingdom has been expanded with lies, deceit, subterfuge, and allurements?
I have no doubt the most venerable God himself would have been embarrassed that his followers were propagating his noble and divine values by exploiting poverty and penury of the unfortunate people.
What I have touched is the tip of the iceberg. There are legal minds that can expand on the subject. We have seen the recent parliament proceedings on the Passage of the Amendment to the Wakf Bill. Not one was debating on the contents and clauses but only reiterating that it was illegal and unconstitutional. Many leaders tried to whip up communal frenzies by citing that the Government would take over all the private property of the Muslims. The victims of the Wakf are poor Muslims as I can assure almost all beneficiaries of Wakf are rich Muslims and the elected representatives of the community. More will be exposed once all the Wakf Land is surveyed. We will wait till then!
The new revelation by Rahul Gandhi that the Constitution is a thousand years old needs to be taken seriously; he probably implies that it is high time we update it to ensure the spirit of the Constitution encompasses all communities and brings them all at par in the eyes of the law. Though originally it was meant to be fair to all, the politics of post-independence India ensured that it turned communal with a plethora of amendments and court rulings. Notwithstanding the judgement of the Kesavananda Bharati case, does it call for a change in its basic structure to stop the discrimination of the majority? Jai Hind!
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