Sadia Quadir
New Delhi, Dec 20 (UNI) Politician and author Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that his book on the Constitution of India titled ‘Our Living Constitution’, aimed at making the country’s foundational document accessible to ordinary citizens.
He pointed out that India’s Constitution has demonstrated extraordinary resilience in a turbulent neighbourhood, enduring for more than seven decades, unlike those of its neighbours Pakistan and Bangladesh, which have been rewritten multiple times.
Speaking at the longlist announcement of the 11th edition of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize, Tharoor drew a sharp contrast between India’s constitutional continuity and the repeated breakdowns witnessed in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh. “Look around the world and see how many constitutions have lasted as long as ours,” he said. “Our neighbours, Pakistan and Bangladesh, have rewritten their constitutions multiple times. Pakistan was born at the same time as us, and Bangladesh after us, yet India has been able to keep its Constitution intact.”
Tharoor strongly criticised the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), calling it “disgraceful” for introducing religion as a criterion for citizenship. “For the first time, a religious provision was brought into the grounds of citizenship,” he said. “Applying any religious test is violative not just of the spirit of the Constitution, but its letter as well.”
Tharoor noted that India adopted its Constitution in the aftermath of Partition amid unprecedented violence, displacement, and political uncertainty, making its survival all the more remarkable. Despite wars, emergencies, social churn, and regime changes, the Constitution has remained the supreme authority, ensuring continuity through democratic and constitutional means rather than force.
He attributed this endurance to India’s embrace of civic nationalism, as opposed to ethnic or religious nationalism that has destabilised many post-colonial states. “It doesn’t matter whether you are Muslim or Hindu, low-caste or high-caste,if you are Indian, you are protected by the Constitution,” Tharoor said, emphasising that Indian nationhood is rooted in citizenship and shared constitutional values, not identity markers.
Expanding on ideas from his earlier work ‘The Battle of Belonging’, Tharoor compared nationalism of 19th century and 20th century Europe, with civic nationalism, which defines belonging through adherence to constitutional principles. He said, “What I call civic nationalism, which is a nationalism really first put into the Consitution, who say it doesn’t matter what your language, religion, ethnicity, place of birth, anything is, if you belong and you adhere to our constitution and the institutions it creates.”
Written in a conversational style, ‘Our Living Constitution’ explains core constitutional principles without requiring legal expertise. Tharoor said the idea for the book emerged when he was asked to write something to mark the 75th anniversary of the Constitution. “I’m not a lawyer, I’m a regular guy,” he said. “I wanted to write a book the average person could read, almost like an extended op-ed, for a living-room conversation about the Constitution.”
The book pays particular tribute to Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution, highlighting his foresight in safeguarding individual rights, equality, and pluralism. Tharoor argued that Ambedkar’s vision explains why India’s Constitution has survived where many others, globally and in the subcontinent, have failed.
