The Constitution balances fundamental rights and directive principles to ensure that the dream of equality aspired for by a large majority of Indians does indeed become a reality and does not remain a dream. The 42nd Amendment Act, which sought to give precedence to directive principles over fundamental rights, was held to be unconstitutional (Minerva Mills ), as the amendment disturbed the balance between fundamental rights and directive principles. Directive principles serve as a beacon to governments to ensure that goals and aspirations of the citizens are achieved and fundamental rights ensure that the means of achieving them are not compromised. The founding fathers of the Constitution had high aspirations for future generations as can be evinced from the Constituent Assembly debates. Consequently, civil liberties and their enforceability were placed on a higher pedestal and were rightly placed as fundamental rights in the Constitution.

The founding fathers were also well aware of prevalent inequalities and the unequal distribution of wealth among them and the need to address the same. These factors have also weighed with judges and have been cogently brought out, when interpreting the relevant provisions of the Constitution. When a citizen is aggrieved by an amendment to the Constitution, made by persons he voted to power, the Constitution guarantees him the right to move the Court to redress his grievance. The Court is bound to address the grievance of the citizen by interpreting the Constitution.

In the ultimate analysis, in coming to a conclusion about whether the people have failed the Constitution or the Constitution has failed the people, the prophetic warning given by Dr Rajendra Prasad in his concluding speech, on the day of adoption of our Constitution on November 26, 1949, should be kept in mind: “If the people who are elected are capable, and men of character and integrity, they would be able to make the best even of a defective Constitution. If they are lacking in these, the Constitution cannot help the country. After all, the Constitution, like a machine, is a lifeless thing. It acquired life because of the men who control and operate it, and India needs today nothing more than a set of honest men who will have the interest of the country before them.”

... contd.