Siddaramaiah Warns Of Bid To Weaken Constitution, Urges Pledge On Republic Day

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday warned of a conspiracy to render the Constitution irrelevant by curtailing the autonomy of constitutional institutions.

He also urged people to take a pledge to protect the Constitution on Republic Day.

The chief minister made these remarks in his message to the people of the state on the occasion of the 77th Republic Day.

"Those who are opposing the Constitution are against social change and social justice. People should understand that they are opposing laws and programmes that are in favour of the poor, farmers, workers, Dalits, and the exploited," Siddaramaiah said.

In a statement, he noted that even when Babasaheb Ambedkar presented the Constitution to the nation, there were forces that opposed it, and that even today, calls to amend or abolish the Constitution are being heard in some quarters.

"But those who understand that this is not an easy task are trying to weaken it slowly. This is a conspiracy that is slowly poisoning. We should be wary of this conspiracy to make the Constitution irrelevant by taking away the autonomy of constitutional institutions," he further said.

"If we protect the Constitution, the Constitution will protect us, and the country will remain secure. In this context, we all need to take a pledge to protect the Constitution today, on Republic Day," he added.

Stressing that for India to grow as a nation and overcome social conflicts it is necessary to dismantle age-old hierarchical systems and restructure society, the CM said the core idea of the Constitution is to build a civil society where a citizen’s status is determined by merit and achievement, not by birth or ancient social origins.

He said that while dedicating the Constitution to the country, Ambedkar had underlined two key responsibilities for future rulers — the protection of political democracy to safeguard national sovereignty, and the achievement of economic democracy.

"The country will truly become stronger and more robust through economic democracy. To achieve this, in this country, which is divided into thousands of castes and discriminations of superior and inferior, we need to establish economic equality through social justice and strengthen the country internally. We should not be satisfied with just political democracy, but we should make efforts to make it a social democracy in practice," he added.

Siddaramaiah said the Constitution has guided all the thoughts and policies of his government. "I, our party and the government are committed to every letter in it." He said it is the constitutional duty of an elected government to eradicate poverty, disease, illiteracy and malnutrition, and to build a hunger-free, illness-free, illiteracy-free and fear-free society. "Poverty is not a crime. We should not forget that it is the result of unequal distribution of wealth and opportunities," he further said.

"I strongly believe that only when our wealth and opportunities are equally distributed we can build a prosperous, strong and dynamic society," he said.

Referring to the Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 47, which state that improving nutrition, living standards and public health is a primary duty of the government, the CM said his administration has implemented five “guarantee schemes” as part of this responsibility.

"Our guarantee schemes, which were formed under the concept of Universal Basic Income, have today provided food security to the people of the state through the Annabhagya scheme and energy security through the Grihajyoti scheme. The Griha Lakshmi scheme has provided Rs 2,000 per month to the women heads of economically backward families of this state, thus ensuring their minimum needs," he said.

Similarly, the Shakti scheme has enabled women’s self-reliance by offering free travel on state-run buses, while the Yuvanidhi scheme has provided unemployment allowance to jobless graduates, giving them confidence and opportunities for skill development, he said.

The CM said that economically weaker families in Karnataka are now saving Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per month due to the government’s guarantee schemes, amounting to annual savings of Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000.

He added that middle and upper-middle-class families are also saving Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 annually through schemes such as Grihajyothi, Shakti and Yuvanidhi, and are using the savings for education, healthcare and future planning. "The effect of guarantee schemes has created a sense of security in the society today."