The latest addition in the list of national days commemorates the murder of the Constitution. The occasion is 50 years of the declaration of the Emergency. So June 25 will henceforth be known as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas, according to the government headed by Narendra Modi. Whatever psychologists might say of the use of the word ‘hatya’ in a commemorative context, Mr Modi’s love for national days is as vibrant as it is fruitful. Commemorative days pour forth, remarkable for their occasions and their unique names. Mr Modi believes in creating history — that of a new India. But creativity in this sphere means creative amnesia too. Mr Modi seems to have forgotten the retaliation of the people through the ballot box to the murder he condemns. Are he and his men focusing on the ‘hatya’ because they are being accused of doing the same to India’s founding document? Countering speculations that the Bharatiya Janata Party desires to overturn the Constitution by excavating the past and blaming an Opposition party for atrocities on the people, imprisonment of innocent citizens and silencing the media is undoubtedly witty. The government may be attempting a species of comic irony.

June 21 saw Mr Modi’s greatest triumph in creating history. It is now International Day of Yoga, which he had suggested to the United Nations. His party is proudly nationalistic and worshipful. Mr Modi says that the chosen days are for national rejoicing; but what about those who cannot rejoice? Will they lose their part in the nation? August 5 commemorates the repeal of Article 370, removing Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and the prime minister’s formal founding of Ayodhya’s Ram temple. That the BJP sees greater unity where its actions are most divisive can be put down to its love of optical illusions. Mr Modi has thus seen in January 22, the day of the Ram temple inauguration, the beginning of new history.

With the BJP’s determination to stamp its ideology on national life, it is natural that the new Parliament building should be opened on Veer Savarkar’s birthday and that
Mr Modi would like to commemorate Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on December 25 as Good Governance Day. The erasure of ‘old’ history — and its people — takes ingenuity. Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthday is now Parakram Diwas, while Vallabhbhai Patel’s birthday, since he is one of the BJP’s chosen heroes, is National Unity Day. Originality lies in ignoring precedents — Indira Gandhi’s birthday was named National Integration Day. The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar are announced on December 26, Veer Bal Diwas, instead of on Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday or Children’s Day. The children of new India will not remember the prime minister whose love for them led to his birthday being dedicated to them. History is a matter of memory. Rub it out and a new history can fill the space. And if the Constitution has already been murdered, there is no possibility of it being killed again. A Hatya Diwas is important.