ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

President does not favour revision of Constitution

President K R Narayanan today expressed reservations against revising the Constitution and said that ''experience of instability in government'' was not sufficient reason to discard the parliamentary system in favour of the presidential or any other system.

Speaking at a function to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the birth of the Indian Republic at the Central Hall of Parliament, the president said: ''Today when there is much talk about revising the Constitution or even writing a new one, we have to consider whether it is the Constitution that has failed us or whether it is we who have failed the Constitution.''

Fully endorsing Dr B R Ambedkar's views on the Constitution that ''it is workable, it is flexible and strong enough to hold the country together,'' Narayanan said: ''I believe these are wise words which we should pay heed to.''

He said there was a need to avoid too much rigidity in our system of governance, as in a rigid system there is a danger of major explosions in society taking place.

''Whatever we may do, and we have a right to bring about necessary changes in the political and economic system, we should ensure that the basic philosophy behind the Constitution and its fundamental socio-economic soul remain sacrosanct,'' he said.

The president said the parliamentary democratic form of government was chosen by the founding fathers ''after deep thought and debate. In the constituent assembly, Dr Ambedkar explained that the drafting committee in choosing the parliamentary form of government for the country preferred more responsibility to more stability.''

He said accountability was still difficult to obtain on a day-to-day basis. Thus the parliamentary system was a deliberate and well thought out choice of the constituent assembly. It was not chosen in imitation of the British system because of the familiarity India had acquired during the colonial period. Gandhiji ''while acknowledging our debt to Britain with regard to parliamentary government had observed that the roots of it were present in India in the age-old system of village panchayats,'' Narayanan said.

UNI

ALSO SEE
PM proposes commission to review Constitution

Tell us what you think of this report