Partisan polemic on the Constitution

School syllabi in the mid-1950s had a subject called civics. It dealt with administration systems and processes and the principles they were based on — quite clearly, the Constitution.

- SHREEKANT SAMBRANI

School syllabi in the mid-1950s had a subject called civics. It dealt with administration systems and processes and the principles they were based on — quite clearly, the Constitution. The prescribed texts were well-written, with simple explanatory diagrams of reporting and hierarchical relations.

The reason for recalling this is that nearly the entire first half of Shashi Tharoor's latest work under review resembles those texts, but is not as succinct or lucid as those volumes, probably committee-written, were. Mr Tharoor rambles on stressing repeatedly the uniqueness of India as a nation as well as its constitution writing exercise. Dr B.R. Ambedkar is invoked in reverential terms (as he should be) and quoted extensively.

All of this is common knowledge, especially so in the last six months as we observed the 75th anniversary of giving ourselves the Constitution. In case you missed it, a quick reference to Wikipedia will tell you all that Mr Tharoor does in the first 47 pages of his rather slim volume, and with much less verbiage.