ON THE SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS of the Constitution of India, The Leaflet has undertaken a commendable survey of contemporary constitutional discourse spanning articles, panel discussions and books. This synthesis examines the ongoing attempts by Hindu traditionalists to reshape the Constitution's liberal philosophy toward Hindutva ideology, and assesses how constitutional governance has functioned over seven and a half decades.
The post-truth conundrum
We are navigating what has been called the "post-truth" era. The erosion of shared political reality has made democratic discourse increasingly difficult as there is no common factual premise to debate. This raises an uncomfortable question: are we back to Nietzsche's philosophy that there is no truth, only constructed perspective?
In the Indian constitutional context, this erosion takes a dangerous form. Claims that secularism is colonial, constitutional morality alien, and the Constitution in need of “decolonisation” now circulate as historical truth. If the demolition of truth contributes to polarization and the normalization of misinformation, the result is a road to authoritarianism. Democratic deliberation cannot survive when citizens no longer share basic agreement about observable reality.
