Annihilation of the Constitution: A Crisis of Information and Justice

Recent issues force us to accept the government is denying us vital information to make us live in an imaginary utopian world

- OLAV ALBUQUERQUE

The citizens' right to know forms part of the Constitution's basic structure, which includes judicial independence, secularism, socialism, sovereignty, and democracy, apart from the right to secure social, economic, and political justice declared in the preamble. But today, our free flow of information about Manipur, Adani, Ambani, or the Waqf properties has been whittled down by the state.

This is why the delay of over 18 months to send 5,000 troops to Manipur to quell the genocide there, ignited the flames which broke out in May 2023, that left over 250 tribals dead and an untold number missing. Article 356 of the Constitution allows the President to impose central rule without waiting for the Governor's report if satisfied there has been a breakdown of the constitutional machinery.

The Constituent Assembly Debates record B.R. Ambedkar as having declared: ". . . where we were considering the general principles of the Constitution, the Constitution should provide some machinery for the breakdown of the Constitution. . . . We must give liberty to the President to act even when there is no report by the Governor and when the President is aware of certain facts on which he ought to act in fulfillment of his duty."

Manipur is very different from Mizoram and Nagaland, which was torn apart by insurgency demanding secession from India several decades ago. Terrorists routinely slaughter innocent people in Jammu and Kashmir, but Manipur presents a different scenario. The trigger for the ongoing genocide was a high court judgment allowing land rights to the Meities who were dwelling in the plains. The judge was transferred after the outbreak of violence.