Unity and Integrity
No constitution is immutable and the Indian constitution has been amended in the last twenty-five years on many occasions to take into account the changes taking place in Indian society and polity. The founding fathers had foreseen the need for amending the constitution since they were aware that the socioeconomic transformation of India and its planned development could not take place without a restructuring of the existing social and economic relationships. In fact, just when the Constituent Assembly was adopting the constitution, Jawaharlal Nehru had declared:
"A free India will see the bursting forth of the energy of a mighty nation. What it will do and what it will not. I do not know, but I do know that it will not consent to he bound down by anything. Some people imagine that what we do now may not be touched for 10 years or 20 years.... I should like the House to consider that we arc on the eve of revolutionary changes, revolutionary in every sense of the word because when the spirit of a nation breaks its bonds, it functions in peculiar ways, and it should function in strange ways. It may be that the Constitution this House may frame may not satisfy that free India. This House cannot bind down the next generation, or the people who will duly succeed us in this task."
We are a nation with great diversity of languages and religions and plurality of institutions and authorities. India has been the cradle of many religions, and many other faiths have been nurtured here in an atmosphere of tolerance and understanding. We have more than a dozen major languages, each with its own script and ancient literature. We have regions with varying levels of economic development. Naturally, our national policies and programmes have to take note of this variety of endowment. That is why secularism and democracy occupy a central place in our values. So does the objective of balanced development of all regions. Of course, we do recognise that different regions of India have much to contribute to enrich the national ethos. India has a tradition of synthesis of eclectic assimilation. To us, the holiest place is where many rivers meet. The Vedic invocation says: आनौ भद्राः कर्तवी यन्तु विश्वतः*
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(*A Sanskrit hymn, which states: "Let good thoughts come from all directions".)
