Let the aspiration of Constituent Assembly be guiding force for " MOULDING THE RELIEF" in Ram Janmbhoomi Case

Surya Pratap Singh Rajawat

Advocate,Rajasthan High Court Jaipur

9462294899

Let the aspiration of Constituent Assembly be guiding force  for" MOULDING THE RELIEF" in Ram Janmbhoomi Case

Statement on moulding  the relief has been submitted by  Dr Rajeev Dhawan,  Sr Advocate in pursuance of the directions of the Supreme Court in the matter of Ram Janmbhoomi case.The Muslim party contestants  , by way of  Statement on moulding  the relief ,stated that decision of Apex Cout   wiwill impact the minds of millions who are citizens of this country and who believe in constitutional values embraced by all when India was declared a republic on January 26, 1950. That the Court, in moulding the relief, upholds multireligious and multicultural values in resolving the issues confronting it.

Being the citizen of India and  Advocate by profession I wish that all  parties contestants along with their advocates  must  know the Constitutional values embraced by all when India was declared a republic on Jan 26 1950 .India has been republic since time immemorial . That Dharma not the ruler has been the sovereign in the land of Vedas. This was asserted by Dr   Radha Krishnan in reply to Objective Resolution of Pt Neehru. He  said  on the concept of Dharma on  20 Jan1947, in  Constituent Assembly Debates "When a few merchants from the north went down to the south, one of the Princes of the Deccan asked the question. "Who is your King?" The answer was, "Some of us are governed by assemblies, some of us by kings."

Kecid deso ganadhina kecid rajadhina.

Panini, Megasthenes and Kautilya refer to the Republics of Ancient India.The Great Buddha belonged to the Republic of Kapilavastu. Much has been said about the sovereignty of the people. We have held that the ultimate sovereignty rests with the moral law, with the conscience of humanity. People as well as kings are subordinate to that. Dharma, righteousness, is the king of kings.

Dharmam Kshatrasya Kshatram.

It is the ruler of both the people and the rulers themselves. It is the sovereignty of the law which we have asserted."

It is relevant to mention the debate dated 27 December 1948 of Constituent Assembly  for the amendment no 1146 standing in the name of  H .V. Kamath. Debates on the  Amendment no 1146 clearly, explicitly and precisely underlines in the meaning of secularism in the India.

Amendment No. 1146, as moved and adopted , was as follows:-

"That in the affirmation or oath in article 49, for the words 'I, A. B. do solemnly affirm (or swear)', the following be substituted:-

'In the name of God, I, A. B, do swear'

or alternatively,

'I, A. B. do solemnly affirm'."
...The more, Sir, we avoid God, the more we try to flee from Him, the more He pursues us.There is a beautiful poem,"The Hound of Heaven" by Francis Thompson, which describes the state of mind of one who tried to flee from God.

"I fled Him down the nights
And down the days,
I fled Him down the arches of the years, etc."

and so he goes on: then he says:

"But with unhurrying chase, unperturbed pace
The feet of God pursued him,
"And a voice beat more instant than the feet,
All things betray thee
Who betrayest me."...

...The Governor-General, Sir, on Thanks-giving Day after the Hyderabad operations, in his speech, stated:

"Ministers, Generals, Soldiers, Police and Citizens, all are entitled to our gratitude. But nothing moves in this world but God moves it. We imagine we have done great things."...

...Our President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, last year when he broadcast a message on Independence Day, said:

"With the help of God and under the leadership of Gandhiji we have won the battle of freedom and gained our objective."...

...Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Singapore, when he became the Commander-in-Chief and  Provincial President of the Arzee Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, took the oath which ran thus:

"Ishwar ke nam par main pratigy karta hun."...

Sardar Patel recently in Bombay declared:

"We are grateful to God that we have succeeded in stablishing stabilized conditions in our country to a certain extent."  

 Therefore, Sir, in the end, I would appeal to the House that we are heirs to an immortal and a spiritual heritage, a heritage Which is not physical, nor material nor temporal: a heritage which is of the spirit--a spirit that is, ever was, and ever shall be, a heritage that is eternal. Let us not squander this invaluable heritage. Let us not dissipate this heritage: let us remain true to our ancient heritage, our spiritual genius. Let us not lightly cast away the torch that has been handed down to us from time immemorial. Let us in the words of Swami Vivekananda aspire to conquer the world spiritually. Let us blaze forth a trail that will be the light of the world as long as the sun and moon and stars endure. I shall only end with the words which were ever on Mahatma Gandhi's lips: "Ishwar Allah tere nam
Sabko sanmati de Bhagvan."

...Some vain kind of politicians in their attempt to imitate some fashionable slogans of the West have allowed themselves to believe that in a secular State God is taboo. A secular State means the state of Truth and God and eternity without prejudice to any particular religion. In India all our culture, and all our policy and civilization has been spun and woven round the one nucleus, God, and if God is banished I do not know what Swaraj will mean to India. Personally I along with so many others, seniors and juniors, and millions of people fought for thirty years for Swaraj. The Swaraj of my conception was Ram Raj. It was not the political freedom alone that mattered. If I may be permitted to say so, I care a tuppence for political freedom. India did not only mourn the loss of her political freedom but her real grief has been the loss of her freedom of spirit. Our spiritual freedom was first hit when Somnath was attacked.Since that time, all these hundreds of years, India has not been feeling free. Real Swaraj means "Ram Raj" How this idea of secularity has been misinterpreted, I will not be going out of the subject if I take the house into confidence and inform them that very recently at a conference of A. I. R. officials they came to the unanimous decision that the recitation of the Gita and the Ramayana, the Koran and the Bible should now be stopped. If secular State means that our children will not know about the Ramayana or listen to the Gita or the Koran or the Granth what is political freedom worth? This is stretching the meaning too far. If God is banished from this "Ram Rajya", India will become Ayodhya without Ram....

"...Even in the British Parliament, when they assemble, they do so only after prayers. They hold prayers. In the proceedings you will find that the Parliament met at such and such an hour and after 'prayer' began their proceedings. Theirs is not a communal State too. In Ireland, as also in many other places, God is not forgotten.... We worship God and our faith must be recorded. India believes in God and therefore the Indian State must remain a State of God. It must be a godly State and not a godless State. This is our meaning of secularity..."

Interestingly यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः॥ (IAST: Yato Dharmastato Jayaḥ)
Where there is righteousness (dharma), there is victory (jayah) is the motto of the Supreme Court of India.Source of this motto is the Mahabharat. Romans used usebeia term for understanding the concept of Dharma  during the reign of Ashoka 2500 years ago. Usebia restricts the understanding of the concept of Dharma to moral values . Unfortunately the 19 century used word religion for understanding the concept of Dharma. Both Usebeia and religion have failed to to justice with the concept of Dharma . 

Sri Aurobindo writes on the concept and integral view of Dharma. (CWSA Volume 20)Sri Aurobindo asserts that" the  Dharma, at once religious law of action and deepest law of our nature, is not, as in the Western idea, a creed, cult  or ideal inspiring an ethical and social rule; it is the right law of functioning of our life in all its parts. The tendency of man  to seek after a just and perfect law of his living finds its truth and its justification in the Dharma. Every thing indeed has its  dharma, its law of life imposed on it by its nature; but for man the dharma is the conscious imposition of a rule of ideal living  on all his members." Therefore, secular state is neither a God-less State nor an irreligious nor an anti-religious State but Dharmic State. This is the secularism in India which forms the basic structure Doctrine of the Constitution.

Constituent Assembly envisaged future India where the hisporical proces of asimilation would allow coexistence of varies sects , religions etc. On   8 Dec1948 in the Constituent Assembly Shri K. Santhanam stated  " ...At the same time, we should not interfere with the historical process of assimilation. We ought not to think that for hundreds and thousands of years to come these linguistic minorities will perpetuate themselves as they are. The historical processes should be allowed free play. These minorities should be helped to become assimilated with the people of the locality. They should gradually absorb the language of the locality and become merged with the people there. Otherwise they will be aliens, as it were, in those provinces. Therefore, we should not have rigid provisions by which every child is automatically protected in what may be called his mother-tongue. On the other hand, this process should not be sudden, it should not be forced. Wherever there are large numbers of children, they should be given education—primary education—in their own mother-tongue. At the same time, they should be encouraged and assisted to go to the ordinary schools of the provinces and to imbibe the local tongue and get assimilated with the people..."

It  is significant to mention that Lord Ram is considered to be Avatar of Vishnu . Doctrine of Avatrathood is the essence of Adwait in Sanatan Dharam. Avatar answers  the aim and object f life where Avatar provide the ideal and the means  for realization of Divinity on Earth itself. Indian Darshan has held that six life is not restricted to six senses but has profound meaning and purpose beyond six senses which make the existence of Man more meaningful and full of delight rather than seeking fulfillment of on other  worlds.

 At the suggestion of Prof. K. T. Shah the question of calligraphy and artistic decoration and printing of the original authoritative copy of the Constitution of India was taken. up. At the suggestion of Krishna Kriplani the President

wrote to Nandalal Bose of the Shantiniketan asking if he would undertake the work of supervision and decoration and illumination of the calligraphed authenticated copy of the Constitution. Acharya Nandalal Bose agreed to the President's  request but suggested that it would not be possible to make designs based on historical subjects as suggested by the President, owing to shortage of space in the margin, and in the alternative agreed to make ornamental designs covering the whole period of Indian civilization.

Illumination of the civilization in the original authoritative copy of the Constitution of India is the base for understanding the culture and   civilization  of India. There is an atttempt  by the Constituent Assembly members to convey message for the future generation of India. As a matter of fact  it is  microcosm of the civilization of India from Harrapa Civilization to modern times in the form Mohanjodaro seal, Vedic Gurukul, Ramayan, Mahabharat-message of Geeta, Buddha, Mahaveer, Ashoka, statue of  Nataraj, King Vikramaditya court, Nalanda University , penance of Bhagirath for the Ganga , Shivaji Maharaj, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Rani Laxmi Bai, , Mahatma  Gandhi , Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose liberating "Bharat Mata"  etc.Also it conveys that the cultural values of the oldest civilization on earth  can be best understood as Dharma. Each illumination represents Yugadharam of that era. Indeed, it is the embodiment of change with continuity.

 It is worth meditating on the selection of the particular aspect of the theme for example the scene from Ramayan where the scene illustrates the return of Lord Ram, Mata Sita , and Laxman after victory over demon king Ravan. This carries maultilayered message . Like after victory Lord Ram chose  to come back to his kingdom. He could have retained Lanka which was more wealthy. But this scene carries the essence of Indian civilisation. The essence of non- aggression and non occupation of foreign territory. Fight for right cause and uphoding the "Dharmic" values. Similarly from Mahabharat the scene is from Kurukhetra where Lord Krishna is propounding the message of Gita. The Gita holds universal teachings for the human race.  Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Guru Gobind Singh Ji has been portrayed for the symbol of resistance against the tyranny  and evils of invaders and foreign civilization in medieval times   Coming to scenes of  Non Hindu in the paintings of  Nandlal Bose, Akbar has been given space for his contribution in the field of architecture . Tipu Sultan , along with Rani laxmi Bai , has been chosen to portray the resistance against British Raj.

Therefore Apex Court must not restrict to the time line of Jan 26, 1950 for the appreciation of Constitutional values but need to have comprehensive and holistic approach dealing with issue of Ram Janmbhoomi . Let the aspiration of the Honourable members of Constituent Assembly guiding force in "moulding the relief" in the judgment of Ram Janmbhomi case.

Interestingly  in the statement of "moulding the relief" Sr Advocate Rajeev Dhawan wishes that Apex Court must also consider how future generations will view the verdict. But Sr Advocate has failed by his conduct in the court room to inspire any respect . Tearing off the document produced by opposite Sr Cousel   with a view to impress his clients at the cost of professional discipline is setting low standards .  Sr Advocate is expected not only maintain the dignity of the Apex court but also raise the standard of ethics and conduct in the court room.In short Sr Advocate Dhawan may win or loose the case but his conduct will be remembered as the conduct of a looser in legal fraternity on the point of professionalism.