Congress has raised a serious political charge. It says the BJP is working to engineer defections in opposition parties so that it can eventually secure the two-thirds majority needed for major constitutional changes, including the possible passage of a delimitation-related law and, perhaps, a larger shift in the way India is governed. It is a charge that should not be dismissed lightly. In a democracy, numbers matter, and when numbers begin to look like an instrument for constitutional change, suspicion is bound to follow.

But suspicion is not proof, and political alarm is not the same thing as constitutional debate. The danger in the present discussion is that the issue may get reduced to slogans and counter-slogans, while the real questions are left untouched. If India is to discuss delimitation, federal balance, or even the possibility of a presidential system, it must do so openly, honestly and with a full public mandate. Anything less would be unfair to the Constitution itself.

Numbers And Constitutional Change

The BJP has one point in its favour, which cannot be ignored. Its record on constitutional amendments is not excessive when compared with the Congress era. In fact, if one goes by the figures available, Congress governments amended the Constitution 67 times, while BJP governments did so 21 times. The total number of amendments stands at 106.

Atal Bihari........

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