BJP move a threat to democracy: Antony

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 28. The Congress(I) Working Committee member and Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Mr. A. K. Antony, has opposed the BJP moves to tamper with the Constitution, by stating that the proposal posed a threat to the existing system of democracy and secularism.

In a statement here today, Mr. Antony said that the Constitution had drawn lessons from the long-drawn and historic freedom struggle against the British rule and was framed with a view to safeguarding the country's sense of freedom, secularism, and moral values, besides ensuring social justice and all-round progress.

The pillars of the Constitution was built up by an Assembly comprising an array of personalities who were in the frontline in the freedom struggle and who represented various sectors. The Constitution was framed by such great national figures like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, who made their contributions on the strength of their experiences and in the backdrop of the unique socio-economic situation prevalent in the country.

Mr. Antony said that the country's democratic structure had been constructed by taking the best from the written and unwritten constitutions around the world, to give a fillip to progress in tune with the Indian situation.

Mr. Antony was prompted to react strongly in reaction to the current controversy triggered off by the differences of opinion expressed by the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan and the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. ``The considered and sagacious views expressed by the President is a reflection of his farsighted vision. His opinion that parliamentary democracy is best suited for the country where economic inequality between caste and religious communities persisted and where regional and language contradictions existed should be viewed as a valuable advice of a experienced statesman''.

The opinion of a person who has served the nation in various capacities both in India and abroad should be considered with all the seriousness and sincerity it deserved in view of the compulsion to safeguard the future of democratic India, he added. ``The country had been able to make considerable progress in the last 50 years, thanks to the vibrancy of the Constitution. That nearly 79 amendments were made to the Constitution during these last five decades is clear evidence that it could encompass the needs of changing times. We have been able to bring in numerous legislations like land reforms, abolition of privy purses, bank nationalisation, abolition of feudalism and the panchayat-raj system within the framework of the Constitution.

``The Constitution has provisions affording constitutional protection to the socially backward classes and weaker sections to bring them into the national mainstream. Therefore, altering the basic features of the constitution would have far-reaching implications. The country could not achieve progress to the extent it desired. The failure to find solution to the people's problems, including that of unemployment, was not because of the lapses in the Constitution,'' Mr. Antony said.

He held the political leadership and the bureaucratic system responsible for their failure to deliver goods during the last 50 years, with successive Governments at the Centre and the State failing to rise to the people's expectations.

The Congress Working Committee member said that the President's opinions mirrored national consciousness and the emotion of Indian citizens. He urged the concerned authorities to fully encompass the spirit of the President's valuable opinions. Reckless tinkering with the Constitution would only brook instability rather than stability, besides opening the path to tensions and disunity. He wanted the BJP leadership to drop its ill-conceived moves to rewrite the Constitution.

In a statement, the BJP national council member, Mr. K. Raman Pillai, denied that either his party or the NDA partners had initiated moves to rewrite the Constitution. He said here today that the BJP and the NDA had not proposed an end to parliamentary democracy and changing the basic features of the Constitution. The NDA had said in its national agenda that a commission would be appointed to review the Constitution in the light of the experiences of the last 50 years. This was reiterated by the President in his address to a joint session of Parliament, he added.

He alleged that some people were floating fanciful ideas on the BJP-NDA account and criticising it besides dragging the President's name into it. He accused the CPI(M) and the Congress(I) of carrying on with their motivated and anti-change campaigns. These parties had converted the Constitution into a mere document and miserably failed to solve the problems the country and its people faced. Now they were projecting themselves as the protectors of the Constitution, Mr. Pillai said.

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