Democracy through the Lens of Constitutional Morality: A Study in the Philosophical thought of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

In the words of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, democracy is the basis of all freedoms and is solely responsible for cultivating a constitutional law of the land, coupled, and juxtaposed with the ideas of equality, justice, fraternity, and liberty. Democracy and constitution are inter-dependent upon each other and the reinforcement of one is the basis and foundation of the other. This mutual relationship is responsible for constitutional development of a democracy. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, was the architect and the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent assembly and was entrusted to be on this particular position, because of the trust and faith that was imposed in him, by other members of the Assembly. Since, Constitution is not a mere lawyer’s document, but a vehicle of life, the age of which is the age of time whereby it operates; the democratic values associated with the constitution are also dynamic in operation. This interlinkage and inter-connection of a number of constitutionally democratic ethics leads to the development of constitutional morality, which forms the axis of constitutionalism and the concept of living constitutionalism. A constitution is a scared document that is written by the forefathers of a nation, basically depicting the way they visualize their nation in the future. The basis of the same is formed by the struggles, the aspirations, the zeal of the independence struggle and the foresight to have an independent nation, endowed with the values of constitution and constitutional morality, coupled with the spirations of a democratic nation. It is in this context that the present manuscript is being written. The present research paper shall deal with the concept of democracy, a brief on the concept of democracy with respect to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the principle of constitutional morality, the interlinkage between democracy and constitutional morality, and the jurisprudential trajectory of the same in India.