Rewrite the road ahead

Mr. Surjit Bhalla argues:

• …it is time we considered the writing of a new constitution. 

• First, we need to view India as a very different economy, and polity, than that faced by the founding fathers. Which means we are not a nation of the poor; we are now a nation of middle class, with the poor aspiring to be middle class. We are not a nation of illiterates anymore; and we are more than involved in the democratic process. 

• Dr Ambedkar penned Thoughts on linguistic states. In this volume, he correctly anticipated aspects of the Telangana problem and reminded all that there was more to the sub-division of states than mere language — for example, size. Dr Ambedkar was pioneering, distinguished, and perhaps the most underestimated leader among the founding fathers. It is not a coincidence that the underestimation arises from the fact that Dr. Ambedkar was a Dalit — but that is again a pointer to how India has changed. Today, the minorities (Dalits, STs, Muslims and women) have a significantly improved status, and the future should mean further progress. 

• ............ in case the liberati (no typo, the term refers to the in-your-face “liberal” glitterati) thinks that only the Shiv Sena are bad sorts with their demand for local hiring, they should look at their liberal cousins in Andhra Pradesh. These folks have had a ditto copy of the Shiv Sena rules called the Mulki rules: region-specific reservations in certain categories of jobs. 

One thing all argumentative Indians agree now, irrespective of political parties they represent, or ideologies they believe etc that there is a need for “setting up of the second States Reorganisation Commission”.