Full text of the Solidarity address by CPI(ML) Gen. Secretary Com. Dipankar at the valedictory session of the Constitution and National Unity Convention on February 25, 2024 organised by the Social Welfare Department, Govt. of Karnataka:

We are now in the 75th year since the adoption of our Constitution. The Constitution was the bridge between our freedom movement and the vision of modern India. It reflected the spirit of India's anti-colonial national awakening and the collective aspirations of the Indian people for a life of liberty, equality and dignity. It also absorbed relevant lessons from India's partition.

Under the leadership of Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Constituent Assembly made two clear choices. It rejected the presidential form and adopted the parliamentary form of democracy. It also chose secular democracy and federal framework to ensure India's advance as a modern republic.

The adjective secular in the Constitution's Preamble may have been inserted subsequently through an amendment, but the basic features of secularism - the state having no religion of its own and keeping religion separate from governance, citizens having full religious freedom and the state making no discriminations among citizens on the basis of religion and instead promoting fraternity among the people regardless of religious differences were all built into the Constitution from day one. The Constitution was clear that secularism and democracy were two sides of the same coin. There can be no communal democracy or fascist secularism.

This secular democratic direction and federal framework of our Constitution has been central to India's survival as a united entity. In stark contrast Pakistan which was formed on the basis of religion got divided on the basis of religion and culture. Here is a lesson India must always remember. You undermine the Constitution and you undermine India's survival and development as a united country. Yet today we all are aware how the constitution is being subverted and democracy being eroded every day, every hour. The BJP government at the Centre and its versions in various states and the Sangh brigade are waging a relentless vicious war on the identity of the republic and the rights of the citizens.

It is therefore absolutely imperative for us to defeat this anti-Constitution regime in the coming elections and realise the commitments made in the Preamble to our Constitution, the commitments regarding the sovereign socialist secular democratic nature of our republic and commitments made to all citizens about liberty, equality and justice - social, economic and political. Congratulations to the people of Karnataka and to the state government for undertaking this mass campaign to spread constitutional awareness at today's critical juncture. Let us keep it up.

Stand for the Constitution. Stand for India. Down with fascism.