Not too long ago, throughout one in all my quiet morning walks, a stranger approached me. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small laminated card: the Preamble to the Indian Structure. He jogged my memory that I had handed it to him over a 12 months in the past at a bus cease.

On the time, he had taken it absentmindedly, very like one accepts a flyer from an advertiser, absolutely meaning to discard it later. However this card was sturdy, so it stayed tucked away in his pocket. A couple of days later, his spouse discovered it whereas checking his shirt earlier than doing the laundry. Curious, she learn it, and so did he.

For the primary time in his life, he encountered these opening phrases: “We, the individuals of India.” They struck him with surprising pressure, he stated. He had by no means learn the Preamble, nor had he realised how profound, concise and highly effective it was. “Why isn’t this sung just like the Nationwide Anthem?” he questioned aloud.

Earlier than hurrying off to his tailoring job, he thanked me – not only for the cardboard, however for making him conscious of one thing he now noticed as important.

This encounter stayed with me. It reaffirmed a perception I had lengthy held: that the Preamble is not only a authorized introduction however the ethical compass of our democracy. On India’s 78th Independence Day, it’s value reflecting on why these phrases matter greater than ever.

The ability of ‘We, the Folks’

Maybe that is the second to deliver the Preamble again into our on a regular basis conversations – not as a relic, however as a dwelling compass. The Preamble’s opening phrase is revolutionary. It declares that the Structure derives its authority not from kings, colonial rulers, or elites, however from strange residents. It reminds us that this democratic undertaking was freely adopted by us – not imposed. That we, not they, are the true custodians of this nation.

It’s a radical assertion of widespread sovereignty – the concept governance exists by the consent of the ruled. The phrases “justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity” should not ornamental beliefs however binding guarantees.

But, how many people really interact with these rules? How typically will we pause to contemplate that “We the individuals” contains all Indians – no matter faith, caste, gender, or financial standing? In a time when exclusionary politics, financial disparity and shrinking freedoms dominate headlines, the Preamble serves as a reminder of the India we have been meant to construct.

Ripple impact

In the course of the fevered run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the air was thick with nervousness. The rise of spiritual majoritarianism, the erosion of constitutional values and the spectre of authoritarianism loomed massive. It was straightforward to really feel helpless. However then I considered the fishermen I typically write about – how even the smallest internet, when woven with care, can catch the tide’s change.

So I started printing and distributing laminated Preamble playing cards – leaving them in tea retailers, handing them to strangers, slipping them into the palms of autorickshaw drivers and shopkeepers. By election day, over 4,000 copies had discovered their method into pockets and houses.

Most have been accepted politely, some ignored – however one, a minimum of, reached a person who, a 12 months later, would inform me the way it modified his perspective.

India’s paradoxes

India in 2025 is a nation of paradoxes. We rejoice technological leaps whereas non secular intolerance hardens into violence. We marvel at skyscrapers whereas ignoring the employees who construct them. We debate free speech whereas journalists and activists face silencing. Via all of it, essentially the most weak – farmers, fisherfolk, laborers – proceed to maintain the nation with little reward.

In such instances, the Preamble is each a compass and a name to motion. It reminds us that democracy is not only about elections, however about on a regular basis selections: voting with conscience, talking up for neighbors, refusing to let prejudice go unchallenged. As BR Ambedkar warned, “Constitutional morality is just not a pure sentiment. It needs to be cultivated”.

Abnormal acts

The person who stopped me that morning was not a politician or activist. He was a tailor, an strange employee – but the Preamble had stirred one thing in him. That’s the energy of consciousness.

Change doesn’t all the time roar. Typically, it whispers: within the sharing of an concept, in a second of solidarity, within the quiet insistence that justice and fraternity should not negotiable. As Mohandas Gandhi as soon as stated, “Virtually something you do will appear insignificant, however it is extremely vital that you simply do it.”

In unsure instances, as we mark 78 years of freedom, allow us to keep in mind: the Preamble is not only a doc. It reminds us that India’s future won’t be decided solely by its rulers, however by its individuals – by our selections, our braveness, and our care. It’s a mirror. It reveals us the India we’re – and the India we might nonetheless change into.

[John Kurien is a former Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. He lives in Kozhikode. Courtesy: Scroll.in, an Indian digital news publication, whose English edition is edited by Naresh Fernandes.]