Gautam Bhatia's book offers a refreshing critique of India's Constitution

The basic dichotomy Dr Bhatia addresses is between the Constitution and courtrooms as sources of progressive and transformative social change and the Constitution as a statement of power

THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION: A conversation with power

Author: Gautam Bhatia

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: xxvi+348

Price: Rs 599

  Our Constitution has lately acquired the status of being etched in stone, not unlike Moses’ Tablets, and its framers are deemed oracles, if not demigods. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the day he first entered the Lok Sabha, declared it to be his holy book. The Constitution became a major issue in the 2024 general election, with the opposition parties openly expressing their fears that the ruling National Democratic Alliance would drastically change the Constitution, if not abandon it altogether, if it was voted back to