Constitution: State and Nation

India Federalism

Congress Party vice president, Rahul Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha that this country is a union of states, not a nation.
Rahul Gandhi raised this issue in his speech in Parliament. He also said that there is no concept of nation in the constitution. And he also said that the culture, language and history of each state is different. In fact the whole of India is a great state. It is also called Indian state. Indian state constitution i.e. Indian state constitution is the Indian state constitution. Again in this state there are many states i.e. there are many states within one big state. States within state.

The state reorganization done in 1956 was based on languages. There were massive movements for this. Madras, Bombay, Bengal etc. were big states and they were separated due to language after the 1956 state reorganization. Not by culture or history.

But what he said is true that there is no nation in the constitution. Because, the constitution does not clearly define the nation. But the way the RSS, BJP opposed his statement and said that India is a nation. The national role of the RSS, BJP is not only that of a unified state, but also that the country has one culture, one religion, one language and hence it is one nation. Behind this, is the mindset of the RSS. This has been outlined by ex-RSS chief M. S. Golwalkar.

Two types of state

A united state is a unitary state and a union of states is a federal state. There was a heated debate in the Constituent Assembly on whether India should be a federation of states or a unified state. Being governed by the central government means that it is a unitary state.

Dr.Ambedkar

Dr. Ambedkar said, ‘India is unitary as well as federal according to the time and circumstances.’ Unitary governance is a type of government system in which a single power, known as As the central government, controls the entire government. In fact, all the powers and administrative departments are located at the central place.

Of course, according to Dr. Ambedkar, India is a unified state and a federation of states. It is not just a unified state.

The RSS wants a unitary state. Golwalkar writes in his book Bunch of Thoughts, “All tendencies seeking a separate states reject the belief in the unity of the motherland. All those tendencies have to be uprooted.

The most important and effective step in this direction is to stop the discussion of the federal structure of the Constitution of our country. That is, destroying the existence of all autonomous and semi-autonomous states in India and declaring One Country, One State, One Lok Sabha. Segregation, regional, communal, linguistic or other forms of discrimination undermine our unity. ,
(Bunch of Thoughts, M.S. Golwalkar p. 237 Second Edition 1980)

This means that the union wants a unified state. And they take it further and call it Hindu Rashtra.

Constitution and state

The constitution says this country is union of states. That is, the states have limited powers. On the other hand, this country is also a federation of states, which means that the states have a separate existence. And this is true in a limited sense as well. Because, states can make their own laws.The central government cannot interfere.

But in some cases the laws of the central government are applicable to all the people in all the states. The constitution applies equally to all the states. In this sense, the states here are not federal, federal like the US states. Because Americans are citizens of the state and of the country also. That is, twin citizenship. And in India, however, there is only single citizenship.

State and nation

This country has a constitution. But the question is, is it a nation? This is a question that needs to be addressed.

Most of the Sangh people say that it is a Hindu Rashtra and many people of BJP including Modi uses the word Rashtra time and again. It is Hindu Rashtra.

People of other parties do not use the word nation.

The RSS also says that it is a nation, a Hindu nation. And it has been in existence since ancient times.

The RSS argues that this country has one religion, one culture, one language, one history. The caste system is rooted in the concept of the Hindu nation. The aim of the RSS is to make a Hindu nation.

Rahul Gandhi says Hindu and Hindutva are different, but he does not deny caste. That is, he does not completely reject Hindu Rashtra.

What is nation?

The most commonly defined nation is a nation of people who share the same origin, culture and language. In this context, will this country fit into the definition of a nation? Because multicultural, multilingual, multi-ethnic people constitute this country.

In such a situation also a nation can be formed, but for this the people here have to change their mindset. All the people here should think that all of us should behave with equality, compassion and brotherhood.

Dr. Ambedkar has said about the nation –

‘There should be a bond of brotherhood among all the people. There should be a sense of belonging to each other.(DBAWS Volume 1, p51)”

He further said, “Nation means unity. There should be brotherhood among all the people. (Dr. Ambedkar Writings and Speeches Part 1, Page 51)”

If seen from this point of view, there is no unity and brotherhood in this country. This means concept of nation is not yet applicable to this country.

Is this Hindu nation?

In this country some organizations, and some political parties are in the role of Hindu Rashtra. And that is RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party. And there are organizations having the same ideology. They are Vishwa Hindu Parishd, Bajarang Dal, Dharm Sansad outfit etc.

The ideology of Hindu Rashtra is not based on brotherhood and equality but is full of mutual hatred and disunity, inequality. These people say that all the people here are Hindu but with inequality, the condition of high and low they call Hindu Rashtra. Secondly, they do not only want inequality between those who are called Hindus, but those who belong to other religions as enemies and sow hatred towards them, which means that this type of Hindu Rashtra is not in the definition of nation at all. may not fit. In other words, it is clear that those who say that it is a Hindu nation are against the concept of true nation or against the nation. This is not the case in any other country in the world.

When is an egalitarian nation?

Organizations, political parties, like-minded, fraternal, non-hating people who want to play or have a role here are the ones who are really nationalists.

In the past, in pre-vedic time there was no caste system, no high and low, it can be said that was nation which was casteless.

But it is not that we cannot bring the distant past and build a nation of brotherhood and equality. Here Buddha had created an egalitarian culture and that egalitarian system was a real nation in a way.

In the 19th century, by Mahatma Phuley, a social revolutionary has said, considering caste hierarchy where there is blend of inferior and superior, each caste is having a different attitude – do not support each other. How can there be homogeneous nation in such a fragmented society?

(Mahatma Phule Samagra Wangmay, 1969, p. 407, Government of Maharashtra Publications).

Mahatma Phule says that having caste system, being high and low means that the nation does not exist.

And this statement he made while presenting the draft of the Constitution. He said “There are castes in India. And castes are anti-national. Because they bring isolation in social life. They are also anti-nationals as they create jealousy and animosity between caste and caste.”

Of course, Dr. Ambedkar categorically said that caste is anti-national. That is, if there is a caste, there will be no nation.

In contrast, Hindu nationalists play a role. They call Chaturvarnya, the caste system, a nation and aggressively advocates its perpetuation. It means they do not want true nation in this country. In fact the Hindu nation is a Brahmin nation.

Because only Brahmins think about it. Hedgewar, Savarkar, Golwalkar and today’s RSS chiefs.

So if we want to build a true nation here, it will be a nation without caste, it will be an egalitarian nation, nation without hatred.

Nagesh Chaudhari is editor of Bahujan Sangharsh

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News