‘RSS and BJP are targeting basic structure of Constitution’
N. Ram of The Hindu Group argued in Kozhikode that the RSS and BJP-led Union government are targeting the Constitution’s “basic structure” doctrine and linked it to pressure on judicial independence.
- The basic structure doctrine is a constitutional law idea used in judicial review to stop constitutional amendments from destroying the Constitution’s core features.
- Judicial review means courts check whether laws and state action follow the Constitution. Judicial independence means courts decide without pressure from the executive or other powerful bodies.
- The lecture argued that the basic structure’s real-world effect depends on judges resisting executive pressure.
- The lecture criticised police action against non-violent protesters, and raised the question of how governments should respond to protest politics.
What happened: N. Ram’s lecture linking “basic structure” to executive pressure
N. Ram, Director of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, delivered a lecture in Kozhikode. He argued that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP-led Union government are targeting the Constitution’s “basic structure” doctrine. He connected this claim to the idea that judicial interpretation administers the basic structure doctrine rather than treating it as a fixed textual code.
In N. Ram’s argument, the basic structure doctrine’s real-world operation depends on the character, independence, and capability of the judiciary to resist executive pressure. N. Ram specifically described the relevant pressure as associated with Hindutva authoritarianism (a claim about political-ideological pressure affecting governance and institutions).
UPSC may treat claims about “basic structure targeting” as a prompt to examine how courts use the basic structure doctrine, what “judicial independence” means in constitutional practice, and how limits on protest policing are assessed through public order norms and law.
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