Swarajya, February 20, 1960
The purpose of our Constitution was that it should define the limits of the power to be exercised by each of the institutions created by it to exercise authority, and it consequently provided safeguards to guarantee the observance of those limits and the protection of the individual rights against abuse of power.
But what in fact has evolved out of the exercise of power by the Congress majority is an almost total overthrow of the guarantees provided in the Constitution. The obstructions placed by the State and its interference in the individual's enterprise and avocation have become intolerable.
If this is not questioned and checked at once, we shall soon have a servile State, without even the saving feature of efficiency.
The middle classes are the greatest victims of these evils, for they have not the means, of buying off the annoyances and obstructions. It would be wise for the present generation in our country to limit the main activities of the Government to the task of collecting taxes and preventing crimes of violence, fraud and exploitation. It would be best, in the mean time, to leave men to work each in his own clearly understood individual interest, so that the totality of our national production may grow to the fullest possible extent, without being hampered, restricted and dwarfed by imaginary notions of general welfare seen through narrow party spectacles and borrowed ideals.
The purpose of our Constitution was that it should define the limits of the power to be exercised by each of the institutions created by it to exercise authority, and it consequently provided safeguards to guarantee the observance of those limits and the protection of the individual rights against abuse of power. It was in fact what may be called 'Constitutional Legislation' not a mere Constitution. The nation and its citizens were told in advance the limits of the powers and the obligations that would issue out of the acceptance of the Constitution. Only a restricted field of discretion was left to Parliament and the legislatures of the States.
But what in fact has evolved out of the exercise of power by the Congress majority, which was large enough to intoxicate it, is an almost total overthrow of the guarantees provided in the Constitution. The obstructions placed by the State and its interference in the individual's enterprise and avocation have become intolerable,. Property, what one has acquired, moveable or immoveable, is not secure. The citizen's occupation is not free from drastic soul-killing annoyances at the hands of officials acting under governmental authority. If this is not questioned and checked at once, we shall soon have a servile State, with-out even the saving feature of efficiency.
The middle classes are the greatest victims of these evils, for they have not the means, of buying off the annoyances and obstructions. Instead of a welfare State, we have a condition of affairs wherein all the active people - men with initiative and imagination - curse government every day. It would be wise for the present generation in our country to limit the main activities of the Government to the task of collecting taxes and preventing crimes of violence, fraud and exploitation. If we could accomplish this, we should feel satisfied and can well leave to later generations any enlargement of the powers of government that they might find desirable. It would be best, in the mean time, to leave men to work each in his own clearly understood individual interest, so that the totality of our national production may grow to the fullest possible extent, without being hampered, restricted and dwarfed by imaginary notions of general welfare seen through narrow party spectacles and borrowed ideals.
