Invitation to Constitution Day and Justice Katju’s Response
- Why Constitution Day Is Seen as a ‘Farce’ by Justice Katju
- Equality Promised vs. Inequality on the Ground
- Liberty Undermined by Sedition and Preventive Detention
- Freedom of Religion and the Reality of Communal Violence
- Hunger, Malnutrition and Welfare Failures in India
- Unemployment Crisis and the Broken Promise of Jobs
- Education, Healthcare and Living Wage—Rights Only on Paper
- Environment, Pollution and India’s Policy Breakdown
- Democracy and the Entrenched Vote-Bank Politics
- Are Fundamental Rights Meaningful Amidst Mass Poverty?
Why Justice Katju Rejects Constitution Day Celebrations
Justice Markandey Katju questions the celebration of India’s Constitution Day, arguing that constitutional promises—equality, liberty, justice, welfare and secularism—stand violated in today’s India. A critical analysis of inequality, unemployment, rights erosion and democratic decline.
Celebrating India's Constitution Day
By Justice Markandey Katju
I received an invitation from Justice Surya Kant, the incoming Chief Justice of India, inviting me to the Constitution Day function to be held on 26th November 2025 in the Auditorium of the Administrative Buildings Complex of the Supreme Court of India. The President of India, Draupadi Murmu, will be the Chief Guest, and several dignitaries like the Chief Justice of India, Judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Law Minister, the Attorney General of India, etc, as well as several members of the bar will be present.
I thanked Justice Surya Kant for his gracious gesture of inviting me, but excused myself from attending, as I regard the celebration as a mere pantomime, burlesque, shenanigan, and a farce.
The speakers will no doubt wax eloquent about the greatness of the Indian Constitution, what it has done for the Indian people, etc, etc. But what is the truth?
The truth is that the Indian Constitution, promulgated in 1950, has been flagrantly flouted and torn to shreds, rendered as a scarecrow, hollow and empty, and now only acting as an instrument to deceive the people into thinking that having democracy they are their own rulers ( when the truth is that a handful of crooks rule the country ), and that they have fundamental rights, ( when the truth is that poverty, which is widespread in India, is destructive of all rights ).
Consider this:
1. The Constitution guaranteed’ equality among the people' vide Articles 14 to 18, which were proclaimed as fundamental rights. Also, Article 38(2) stated, “The state shall strive to minimise inequalities in income”. Article 39(c) stated that the state shall direct its policy to ensure that there is no concentration of wealth.
But what is the reality today? It is reported that just 10 Indians own wealth equal to the wealth of the bottom 50% of the 1.4 billion mostly abysmally poor Indian people.
Also, minorities, dalits, women, tribals, etc, are often treated shabbily and atrocities are committed on them, often with impunity.
So much for equality!
2. Article 21 guaranteed liberty. But sedition and preventive detention laws make a mockery of it, as exemplified by several concocted and fabricated cases often instituted against people ( and particularly against Muslims, who are often branded as terrorists and anti-national ) who speak or write against the government, and they have often to spend long periods in jail, e.g. Umar Khalid.
Although in Romesh Thapar vs State of Madras, a judgment given by the Supreme Court a few months after the promulgation of the Constitution in 1950, it was held that in a democracy, people had the right to criticise the government, the truth is that today it is often dangerous to do so in India.
So much for liberty!
3. Article 25 ‘guarantees’ freedom of religion. But that did not prevent lynching of Muslims by gau rakshaks, or assaulting them for not saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’, arresting and imprisoning Muslims for long periods on false charges ( on the basis of fabricated evidence ), vandalism against churches in Delhi, or persecution of Christians in Odisha.
So much for our secularism!
4. Article 39(f) directs the state to ensure that children develop in a healthy manner, and Article 47 directs it to raise the level of nutrition. Yet, over 78 years after Independence, every second child in India is malnourished, many being wasted or stunted. We have the distinction of having over one-third of the world’s malnourished children. In this respect, we are worse than sub-Saharan African countries which have historically faced such trauma.
5. With skyrocketing prices of food, medicines, fuel, and other essential commodities, how can poor people, who constitute 75% or more of our population, get proper nutrition etc ?
6. 57% of our women are anaemic.
7. Article 39A states that the state shall justice. But with over 50 million pending cases, and cases often taking decades to decide, where is justice?
8. Article 41 states: “The state shall make effective provision for securing the right to work and education, and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age and sickness.”
But our state is in the hands of our crooked netas who are only interested in power and pelf, and care two hoots for this provision (probably very few would even know of its existence).
The Prime Minister, in his 2014 election campaign, promised the creation of 20 million jobs annually if the BJP came to power. But it is estimated that demonetization alone destroyed 20 million jobs, and unemployment is mounting to record highs in India.
12 million youth are entering the Indian job market annually, but less than half a million jobs are being created annually in the organized sector of our economy. So where do the remaining 11 and a half million go ? They end up as hawkers, street vendors, stringers, bouncers, criminals, beggars, suicides, and many girls as prostitutes.
https://m.thewire.in/article/economy/unemployment-rate-increased-in-september-joblessness-among-the-youth-rose-to-15-report
https://thewire.in/economy/youth-unemployment-rate-in-india-was-higher-than-its-neighbours-in-2022-world-bank-report
To give an idea of the level of unemployment in India, one may illustrate. If 100 peon (class 4) jobs are advertised in India by the government, there are often 5 lac applicants, including some PhD, MSc, MBA, or engineering degree holders, all begging for a menial job.
9. As for good education, it is available only to a few in India, and most schools are in an abysmal condition.
10. The same can be said of the state of public health in India, in spite of Article 47. For the rich and mighty, there are state-of-the-art hospitals, but as regards the masses, they are too poor to go there, and they have often to go to quacks.
11. Article 43 states that the state shall endeavour to secure a living wage to workers, industrial or agricultural. But with the massive level of unemployment in India, and the contract system largely replacing security in employment, a worker dare not ask a wage higher than whatever pittance he gets, lest he lose his job. And as for agriculture, this provision is a cruel joke on the over 400,000 farmers who committed suicide in India.
12. Article 48A directs the state to protect and improve the environment, but the pollution levels in most Indian cities (even the capital Delhi) have reached record heights, and our rivers are badly polluted.
13. The Constitution set up the system of parliamentary democracy in India, on the Westminster model, but it largely runs in India on the basis of caste and religious vote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces which have to be destroyed if India is to progress, but parliamentary democracy further entrenches them.
14. Article 19(1) of the Constitution grants freedom of speech to all citizens, but what use is this freedom to a person who is poor, hungry, or unemployed? Are the fundamental rights in Part 3 of the Constitution not illusory, and just a cruel joke on the vast majority of our people. As stated above, poverty is destructive of all rights, and we have massive poverty in India.
So what is there to celebrate about? Cheerharan (disrobing) has been done to our Constitution, with our state institutions closing their eyes on these outrages, as Bheeshma Pitamah did when Draupadi was being disrobed publicly.
To my mind, Constitution Day is just a gimmick, a stunt, and a skulduggery. Celebrate it as much as you like, but don't expect me to join you in this sham, farce, legerdemain, and cruel mockery on the Indian people.
(Justice Katju।s a retired judge of the Supreme Court of। India. These are his personal views)
