Majoritarian governments do not like fetters on their powers to amend the constitution. There is a reason why India is an example of this. https://thewire.in/government/constitution-amendment-basic-structure
India is undergoing a “deliberation backsliding”. The data and numbers confirm this. As per analysis undertaken by PRS Legislative Research, a not-for-profit think tank tracking the Indian parliament, since the current government was elected to office in 2019, only 13% of all government bills introduced in parliament were referred to Parliament Committees for detailed study, scrutiny and stakeholder consultations. The track record of the earlier government (under the same Prime Minister) was only slightly better at 28% of all government bills being referred to Parliament Committees. In contrast, the governments before 2014 (under a different Prime Minister) managed to refer 60% of all bills between 2004-09 and 71% of all bills between 2009-14 to Parliament Committees.
Now, the current government seems to have embarked on a project to revert to the “original” constitution, in which the words secular and socialist, and particularly secular, were not included in the Preamble, arguing that these were inserted during the undemocratic emergency. It has also not minced any words in making clear that it wants greater control and a say in the appointment of judges on the ground that the present system of appointments through a collegium is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution and is a judicial invention. The basic structure doctrine stands in the way of the government having its way, but it is not certain for how much longer.
Majoritarian governments do not like fetters on their powers to amend the constitution. In the recent past, the Indian judiciary has also come under much criticism for its “refusal” to live up to the expectation of being a counter-majoritarian institution, particularly on politically sensitive matters. A parliament reeling under near complete executive takeover, a government not keen on deliberations and a political party confident of mustering enough numbers to amend the constitution unilaterally present grave danger of the constitutionalism project failing in India.
by Maansi Verma
11/04/2024