ABSTRACT
By focussing on the politico-ideological issues, this chapter provides an elaborate account of how they evolve in a context in which liberal democratic ideas seem to have stuck organic roots in India. As it is difficult to focus on each and every aspect of the phenomenon, this segment of the chapter delves into six specific areas of India’s constitutional designs and practices to conceptually articulate constitutional identity in India. Since this is not merely a study of the phenomenon with reference to India’s Constitution, the aim here is also to assess the claim by drawing upon the wider socio-economic and political processes in which constitutional identity gets articulated out of an incessant, but waged at different levels, ideational battle. Core to this section is the idea that Constitution is not just a compilation of a set of rules, but it conveys a specific form of governance which is drawn on the fundamental ideological ethos of the philosophy of Enlightenment, being complemented by its indigenization during the nationalist movement and its aftermath. The chapter focusses on (a) religion and religious freedom, (b) secularism, (c) reservation and (d) gender issues to show how India’s constitutional identity privileged constitutional liberalism despite occasional threats to its existence and continuity.
