Arvind
“All things (RES) from the Public is Republic.”
“Why isn’t there any Comma between SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC?” The Reasoning behind the afore-Put forth question throws light at the- “Nature of Indian Republic and how Indian Constitution views a Republic as?
Etymologically, The Term “Republic” is derived from two Latin terms- “RES” and “PUBLICAE” wherein “RES” means “THING” and “PUBLICAE” means- “From the Public”.
Put together- “A Thing from the Public”. The word “REPUBLIC” refers to anything from the Public. In the Context of Political Science, the word “Republic is associated with the “STATES”. Ergo, To, state that a STATE is a Republic essentially and plainly implies that – “THE STATE IS FROM THE PUBLIC”. i.e., “It is the Public that have given birth to the State” and the “Representative human element of the State, who is the leader is from the Public”.
But, in a Strict Constitutional sense – “THE CONSTITUTION IS THE ULTIMATE REPUBLIC” and is the primus among all other REPUBLICS- “things from the public”.
Thus, A President, A Prime Minister are also things from the Public and so, is the Constitution.
But, when all things from the public are Republic, Stricto Sensu, “Who reigns supreme when there is a conflict between the various things from the public”?
It is the Constitution that reigns Sovereign as – “The Posts of PM and President are certainly from the Public but they remain so to be from the Public solely because the Constitution permits them to be by explicitly providing for them under itself specifically, under PART-V”.
This is precisely the reason, for the “Celebrating the Constitution on Republic Day, as it is the supreme thing (RES) to have been emerged from the PUBLIC”. When, put it this way, it would not be an error to state that – “Constitution is Republic, A (Res)
thing from the Public” and by extension INDIA is Republic”.
As, a bare perusal of the Preamble make it amply clear that the object of the “Constitution (A RES from the PUBLIC) is essentially to Constitute India into A “SOVERIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC “. That is, INDIA should always be “from the Public”. The Term India here implies – the Representatives (The PM and The President).
But, if observed closely, there isn’t any Comma between the 5 words- SOVEREIGN SOCILAIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, the reasoning here hint at the Nature of Indian Republic which is this thing (Res) , “INDIA” which is from the Public must not just be from the public and continue to be from the Public (REPUBLIC) but, The same Republic must be Sovereign, that same Sovereign Republic must be Socialist and that same Sovereign Socialist Republic must also be Democratic, thus together, this thing or RES which is INDIA must be from the public and continue to be from the Public by being a – Republic but that is not enough , that very RES (thing, which is India) must also be SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC .
To illustrate, Assume we want to be build a BIG BLUE SPACIOUS HOUSE , if you observe to describe the nature of the house we want to build we have not used comma between the BIG BLUE SPACIOUS because, they are one word, that is , the HOUSE which we want to build must not only be BIG but the same BIG HOUSE must also be BLUE and the Same BIG BLUE HOUSE must also be SPACIOUS , thus, making it a – BIG BLUE SPACIOUS HOUSE indeed and which is the best way of description doing justice to description of the nature of the house we aspire to build.
Thus, it is the same aforementioned line of reasoning we employed to describe the nature of the Republic we want to build and chose the best description of “SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC” without a comma, to do justice to our noble aspiration.
However, the Constitution goes a step ahead to also delineate the path towards achieving such a “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic” by employing the words – “By securing to all its Citizens JUSTICE- Social, Economic, Political; LIBERTY of Thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of Status and of Opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the Individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation”.
The Constitution explicitly prescribes the path to constitute such a – “SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC” which can be done by “Securing, Promoting & Assuring”.
Securing – Justice, Liberty & Equality (because these can be secured and guaranteed)
Promoting- Fraternity (it can only be promoted and not secured as it’s a value of brotherhood and a feeling which can only be nurtured just as love cannot be secured but only be promoted).
Assuring- Dignity of an individual & the unity and integrity of the Nation (these are basic sureties they have been placed at an equal pedestal just as any acts of invasion is an act aimed at the dignity of the nation so are acts aimed at invasion of an individual’s bodily autonomy and hence, both are highest priorities of the Republican Indian State).
Thus, A Constitution is the Supreme RES (Thing) from the Public which aims at constituting India into a Republic but, the Republic must not just be a Republic but “A SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC” and as such – “Constitution is the supreme republic (the genus) and by extension India is a Republic (the specie)”.
The views and opinions expressed by the author in this article are his personal opinions and do not represent the views of PureSociology. You can contact the author/s at [email protected]. The details of the author:
Mr. Arvind is a Law student at Chandigarh University (CU), Punjab (India).
