This discussion was taking place in a class. Read the various arguments and state which of these do you agree with and why. Jayesh: I still think that our Constitution is only a borrowed document. Saba: Do you mean to say that there is nothing Indian in it? But is there such a thing as Indian and western in the case of values and ideas? Take equality between men and women. What is western about it? And even if it is, should we reject it only because it is western? Jayesh: What I mean is that after fighting for independence from the British, did we not adopt their system of parliamentary government? Neha: You forget that when we fought the British, we were not against the British as such, we were against the principle of colonialism. That has nothing to do with adopting a system of government that we wanted, wherever it came from.

Question

Philoid · Accepted Answer

Jayesh: The statement made by Jayesh is not correct because though the features like Fundamental duties, Fundamental Rights or DPSPs are borrowed from different nations, but it’s not blind borrowing rather innovative borrowing. Adopting Parliamentary System was apt for a huge country like India.

Saba: The statement made by Saba is correct. The values that are part of constitution are universal and cannot be treated as Indian or Western. Like, right to equality is universal, we cannot devoid women of equal status by arguing that it is a western notion.

Neha: Neha’s statement is correct. When we fought the British, we were not against the British as such, we were against the principle of colonialism, that were the principles of governance.