Constitution reduced to subservient document to establish Hindu Rashtra, says Mohan Gopal
He was delivering a lecture on 'Changing Media Priorities and Constitutional Rights', organised by the Ernakulam Press Club as part of the C.V. Pappachan Award ceremony held here on Tuesday (August 12).
In BJP-ruled States, governance is being conducted based on the Vedas as the highest source of authority. The Constitution has been reduced to a mere administrative document. The situation is no different in Union Territories either. The supremacy of the Indian Constitution has been denied to nearly half of India's population. As a result, the country continues to drop down in the freedom of the press index by the day. The decline, which started with the BJP's ascent to power in 2014, has turned into a free fall since its second stint. Now, India is ranked 151st in the index of media freedom globally, Mr. Gopal said.
Those who share social media posts criticising the government are being sent to jail. From a respectful democratic nation, India has been reduced to an autocracy. The Sweden-based University of Gothenburg, known for its pioneering study on democracy, has given the country the status of electoral autocracy. The proclivity to seek the highest norms governing India in the Vedas rather than in the Constitution is also visible in the some of the judgments of courts. The Supreme Court had hailed the Varna system as a beneficient system in a recent verdict. This is an alarming trend, he added.
'Concerted efforts are being made to deactivate Article 19(1) of the Constitution. With that, the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, including the right to free speech, will be taken away. We have seen how fearless exponents of free speech, such as Gauri Lankesh, are even murdered,' Mr. Gopal said.
Minister for Law and Industries P. Rajeeve inaugurated the award function. He gave away the award and cash prize to the winner, Siraj Kasim.
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