On 26th January, 2009, the Indian Republic completed 59 years of existence. Indian military might and latest aircrafts and missiles were showcased to the world on this day.  This anniversary comes at a time when Indian diplomacy is overactive to prepare conditions for an assault on Pakistan, and the Indian armed forces are viewed as a major threat to peace in this region by all our neighbours.

By flexing its armed might, the Indian bourgeoisie wants to tell the world that it is a major power to contend with.  However, the world also knows that India accounts for the largest concentration of very poor people, of illiterate persons, and victims of several controllable diseases. 

India accounts for enormously large number of under-trial prisoners and child labourers, abandoned women and prostitutes. India is known for the pathetic condition of most public services, including the majority of government schools, hospitals and primary health centres. It is also known for widespread corruption and criminalized politics.

The rulers of India boast that in spite of everything, we have managed to maintain a democracy and done much better than others in South Asia, such as Pakistan, where military rule is frequent.  They are satisfied to score a point over Pakistan. The question is why the Indian state is failing to fulfill its duty to ensure prosperity and protection for Indian people, and what must be done about it.  Why is it endangering peace instead of being a factor for peace in South Asia?

There is a clash between the outlook of the bourgeoisie and the outlook of the working class and majority of people on the question of how the State – this Indian Republic – is to be judged. 

The State is duty-bound to provide prosperity and protection for its people.  This is an essential component of Indian political thought through the ages.  It is precious for the Indian people, and it is the benchmark for judging how the State is performing.  

The State is duty-bound to ensure high profits for the propertied minority and intervene in their interests when their profits are at risk – this is the outlook of the bourgeoisie. The capitalists judge the State by whether or not it is ensuring maximum profits in their pockets and sabotaging any resistance of the people to this plunder.  A political party or leader who steers the State to fulfill this aim very well is praised as being ‘modern’ and ‘reformist’.

Corresponding to these two opposing world views, there are two trends of political opinion about the Indian Republic. 

One trend of opinion is to believe that the Republic is fine and only this or that party is to blame for all the problems. This is what the Congress Party and the BJP propagate, each pointing fingers at the other. There are other parties who blame both Congress and BJP for the problems, but not the basic foundation of the system of democracy itself.  Such parties also propagate the dangerous view that the basic foundation of this Republic must be defended and preserved.

The opinion of enlightened people is that the Indian Republic is both alien and outdated and needs to be reconstituted afresh.  It was alien right from its birth, when the Constitution was adopted.  The 1950 Constitution was based largely on British political theory and institutional model of democracy. The bureaucracy and the armed forces, both alien instruments of colonial suppression of Indian people, were kept intact. As the Indian bourgeoisie grew bigger and its exploitation more intense over the years, the Indian Republic has multiplied its organs of repression, expanded its paramilitary forces, intelligence agencies and covert operations both within the country and abroad.

The Indian Republic is outdated because it does not fulfill the current aspiration and demand of the Indian people that they must have a say in how society is organized and oriented.  While the Preamble to the Constitution starts with “We, the People” – it vests supreme power not in the hands of the people, but in the hands of those who get elected and get to form the government. The electoral process ensures that only parties backed by one section or other of the bourgeoisie get to form the government.

The Indian Republic is an instrument suited to the rule of a minority exploiting class.  It was handed over, transferred, from the hands of a class of white skinned exploiters to a class of brown skinned exploiters. It is clear as daylight today that it is the big capitalist corporations that determine where the Central Government deploys public funds in the name of economic stimulus.  It is the same class that has its parties dominating the legislative bodies and running the governments.

The Indian working class and peasants need a different kind of State that would be an instrument for their empowerment. Instead of capitalist democracy, what we need is a worker-peasant democracy. Working people must make the crucial decisions on how much to invest, what and how much to produce, what prices to charge and how to distribute the net income among the working people, and between current consumption and investments for the future. In such a system, working people will select and elect the best from among their peers and hold them accountable to the electorate.  Political parties will play the role of enabling the people to rule, instead of ruling in the name of the people.

The 1950 Constitution of the Republic of India does not recognise the existence of various very old nations and peoples who make up this subcontinent – such as the Kashmiris, Punjabis, Bengalis, Tamils, Oriyas, Gujaratis, Marathis, Telugus, Kannadigas, Malayalees, Assamese and numerous others. Neither does the Constitution of Pakistan recognise the existence of the Punjabis, Sindhis, Baluchis, Pathans, etc. These states of post-colonial South Asia are based on colonial empire building concepts, which recognise territories and not nations, peoples and their rights.

The program of the working class is to work for the Navnirman of India, which means to reconstitute the Indian Union afresh, as a voluntary union of consenting nations and peoples.  This means that every constituent people must establish their own workers’ and peasants’ republic, and unite to create the new Union of Workers’ and Peasants’ Republics of India.  Such a state will be committed to defend the individual and collective rights of all, and to ensure prosperity and protection for all. It will be a factor for peace and unity of peoples in South Asia against imperialism, headed by the US.