There is never a dull moment with Thiru Muthuvel Karunanidhi. As if going by the logic that if the game gets hard, the rule book needs to be altered, the Tamil Nadu chief minister has suggested that there is need for a new Constituent Assembly that could draft a new Constitution in the era of coalitions so that the country could look towards a federal form of government in the true sense.
Speaking to Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24×7’s Walk the Talk programme Karunanidhi said:
“Our Constitution has been changed many times. What should be done is that all shortcomings of the Constitution should be addressed in one sitting. That is what I feel.”
Questions: Is there really a need for a new Constitution? If so, what specifically shold be incorporated into it? Is there anything wrong with the Constitution in its present form, or are our politicians finding an excuse for their own inadequacies and shortcomings? Is Karunanidhi playing into the hands of the BJP which set up the Constitution review panel? Or is this just another meaningless controversy which will soon die a natural death?
There are many things which have been introduced into the Constitution in bad faith. Some have been struck down by the Courts (the Indira Gandhi Amendment), read down to a great extent (powers of Governor) or removed by Legislative action (most of the 44th Amendment).
The problem is that we still don’t know what we want of our Constitution. Is it the repository of national values? or just a “Super-law” governing all other laws?
The problem is also the Constitutional amendment is a casual exercise, subject, like anything else, to judicial review only. The Parliament debates Constitutional amendments these days with the same lack of vigour and enthusiasm it shows for most other bills.
The problem, as always, is not with the Constitution itself, but those who are supposed to follow and uphold it not just in letter, but in spirit as well. The list of people and institutions which show such scant regard to the Constitution is too long to enumerate here. We have, I think, stopped respecting it as a document of destiny, and treat it like any other scrap of paper.
Karunanidhi is not karuna, it should be kamanidhi, he has married 4 times , he still ogles at ripe age of 80 , his monkey mind is taking him to “vinasha kale viparitha buddhi”.
“Thiruka” na kanasu!!!
At last an intelligent comment from a Dont-know-what-kinda person. I wonder Kari would have broken his head or lost all his hair (if at all it is there, I guess it is not a wig) before making this comment. A very very Very intelligent comment indeed from I-dont-know-what-to-say kinda person…
Yes, we do need change in our constitution. First Things first,
In the new constitution, the qualifications of the politicians who want to contest elections should be,
1.Should not wear sun glasses all the time!
2.Expiry date for politicians. (Should not contest elections after 60 years of age)
3.Bachelor / should be married only once.
4.No Lungi / panche allowed in office hours.
5.No Hereditary politics. (Desha en avara appana mane gantalla !!)
6.Have to have proficiency in English.
7.Academically one should at least have 2 degrees and 1 Ph.D ;)
Saddyakke Isht irli saaku.. Desha “ RAMA ” Rajya yaakaagalla naanu nodthini.. :)
Karunanidhi huttakke kai hakiddare.
Festive time for politicians to change the constitution as per their whim & wish.
Reform the criminal law enforcement, if it’s fixed then these oafs would have been taken care off.
India needs some kind of a social awakening which will happen only after a great upheaval, probably a civil war..You cannot live in a place where around 10% of the people contribute constructively and the rest are utter waste..
Rewriting the constitution is a waste of time. Enough feedback mechanisms are in place to bring in change to the existing constitution.
Once a popular software firm acquired a spreadsheet product company however they did not scrap the code entirely instead they did “code refactor”.
The urge to replace existing things is always exciting however the loss of knowledge that was developed over generations will be lost in vain.
Politicians continue to use constitution to their advantage. Let MK follow some constitution rules like abiding supreme court rulings before making these suggestions.
>> Is Karunanidhi playing into the hands of the BJP which set up the Constitution review panel?
thought Karunanidhi was part of the NDA govt which instituted the Venkatachalliah panel? so whats new and whats wrong with his latest statement?
Indian constitution is not federal enough is obvious. sample these,
1. the recent amendments to do away with the domicile requirement for Rajya Sabha polls is disastrous for the federal structure. Why on hell is Manmohan a candidate from Assam when doesn’t even bother to vote in the assembly elections there?
2. why can’t the states be given absolute powers decide the reservation percentages based on data available to them?
3. why do we need the post of governors? why not dismiss state governments by parliamentary legislation alone? why have scoundrels in raj bhavans harassing state govts?
Balaji,
If you have any intelligence or integrity,fight openly for an independent TN.we are getting sick of your rantings.
Moron,We all know resevation is a closed subject in TN.Tamils are polluting the issue at the all india level.
Kannadigas have enough problems with kongas.Let us not test their patience in this forum.
Your comments on domicile and governors seem reasonable.For india to flourish,the problem is not with the letter of the law,but the spirit behind it.
You chauvinist kongas will never understand that.
The inability of the state governments to decide reservations is the biggest socio-economic problem we have. A uniform reservation policy cannot work in a country with diverse demographics. TN has less than 5 percent of Muslims, Christians and Brahmins. But UP has I guess around 19 percent Muslims and a significant percent of Brahmins. Ofcourse Arunachal is almost exclusively populated by Tribals.
Why should the Central government decide percentages then (i know states suggest). Just let the states to pass legislation every five years (like the annual budget) to decide the percentage of reservation as well as who needs to get it. We’ll indirectly be getting even the people to decide about reservation this way.
Being an Indian I feel sad, that more than my own country, I have been take care by all other countries I have gianed nothing from India, niether a government job , nor a government college seat not even government school seat , I have been privatized right from my brith so shall I die , all things good in India is reserved for people with 35% pass marks those who can still get into RBI , ONGC, IOCL , EIL, AIIMS , IIT , IIM.
mk has downgraded security of jaya, is it revenge my mk because he was dragged out in midnight by police from his house during jaya regime.