Laws are meant for the people; not the other way round. Laws are meant for the well-being of the nation even as they seek to protect and promote the collective interests of the people. Both these propositions complement each other and are not contradictory in nature. This thought arises in the context of a row, raised from some quarters, about the long-term impact of the recent Supreme Court order in favour of abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution. The Modi-led central government, fresh from getting a consecutive second term in power following its electoral victory in the 2019 general elections, abrogated Article 370 without getting approval from both Houses of Parliament. Such an approval was not possible due to the ruling side’s lack of sufficient numbers in the upper house. The argument now is that, by giving its nod to this action, the apex court has opened the way for any future government to amend the Constitution without necessarily getting approval from both houses of Parliament by a two-thirds majority.
The provision for a consensus by a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has been a major handicap for the central government to take several key decisions of the cabinet forward. A case in point was the GST bills that struggled to get a nod from the Rajya Sabha for its enactment as law. Finally, after years of hold-up, the Modi government turned these into finance bills in order to skirt the RS nod and get the President to sign it into a law. The nation needs to move forward in several areas but laws are standing in the way. The Constitution cannot be wished away. One cannot have a circus without a ring. At the same time, national interests are supreme and that directly translates into people’s interests. Kashmir, per se, is not the only issue.
An unending wait serves no purpose. The Constitution is the last word, but its provisions must stand the test of time. Changes are in order. And so many changes are the need of the hour. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acted with firmness on Kashmir only in his second term though the issue was central to the BJP’s and the RSS’s scheme of things. He has however been amiss in taking similar strong steps on other matters of urgency such as judicial reforms, administrative reforms et al. The wear and tear of 75 years needs to be addressed, attended to and a healing process initiated to strengthen the national fabric. Prima facie the Supreme Court appears to have kept national interests above the rule book by citing its own justifications. History will judge if this move of the apex court stands scrutiny or whether it is one more step towards weakening the Constitutional values.
