Sixty years of constitutional democracy and the rule of law in India would seem, on the face of it, like an occasion for taking stock and for celebrating the great Indian political experiment. The founding fathers and mothers put a structure in place, enshrined a nation's dreams in an impressively liberal text, and six decades later, it appears we still abide by that vision. All around us, there are polities in various kinds of malfunction - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar - and to our north, a prosperous but authoritarian China. India's Constitution makes the country an oasis of rights, representation and justice in a desert of failing or otherwise flawed states. It could be argued that the Constitution, as the textual blueprint in the republic, is not responsible for its own marginalization, violation, or suspension. That it was conceived in a certain era, written in a certain spirit, and promulgated in good faith by the best political and legal minds active in India around the time of independence. That a document first articulated and steered by the likes of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, K. M. Munshi and Constitutional Advisor B.N. Rao, continuously guarded and carefully interpreted by three generations of lawmakers since, is as good as it gets for an overly large, unremittingly poor, vexingly diverse, and precariously free post-colony like India. That we may criticize the Constitution; we may lament its disrespect or point out its inefficacy in many parts of India, but without it, we would still be colonized, if not by the British then by undemocratic, militarist, communal or other sorts of nonprogressive strains within the Indian political spectrum. Better to have an excellent constitution in the letter if not in practice than no constitution at all, the objector says. Today the Indian constitution is considered as best amongst all other constitutions. We should be grateful for the moral commitment and practical foresight of our founders.