E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

170 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtpublic order, or defending the State or society from disruption.The Emergency exposed how almost all Fundamental Rightscould be put in cold storage or extinguished by introducingamendments that aimed at conferring immunity on the politicalleaders who hold the power of the state in their hands, andexposing the common citizen to loss of life or liberty, withoutthe redress that judicial review might give. That theseamendments were secured, or favourable judgments obtainedthrough the use of terror and temptation, aimed at the membersof the Legislature and the judicial system, has also exposed themettle of our representatives and the earnestness and thecommitment of the judiciary to uphold justice and the libertiesguaranteed by the Constitution. I do not know how many of ourlegal luminaries and the leaders of the judicial systemdeveloped uneasy consciences after the Emergency ended, but Icannot brush aside the thought that, on some crucial occasions,the judiciary, of some of our neighbouring countries chose toset a different example. The main point that I want to makehere is that the Emergency showed how our system could bedestroyed from within, among other things by the componentorgans being paralysed by fear, or by those in power usingthreats and sops to subvert the system.Now, where do we stand if we look upon the DirectivePrinciples as indices of the direction we were expected to take?The Constitution says that the Principles are not enforceable,but are "fundamental in the governance of the country, and Itshall be the duty of the State to apply these principles inmaking laws."Article 38 (2) talks of striving to minimise inequalitiesin income, status, and opportunities; 39 talks of securing to allcitizens the right to an adequate means of livelihood, ofensuring that the ownership and control of material 'resourcesare so distributed as to subserve the common good and the