The Concept of “People” in “We the People of India…” Reality and Transformation

Abstract

This article shows that the concept of “people” in the Preamble of the Constitution of India is vague and confused and victim of severe politicking. Such “people” cannot be the “sovereign” that gave themselves the Constitution. The concept of “people” in the Constitution has an overlap with the “citizenship” that often used interchangeably and nationalism. In the post-independence era the concept of “people” has become more elusive and there is a need to take stock of the situation resulting from right wing majoritarian politics.