Mumbai: Former Union Minister Arun Shourie on Friday said the debate on the need to review the Constitution should be revived.
He was delivering a lecture on `governance deficit`, organised by the Observer Research Foundation here.
"Till 1970, there was an active debate in India on whether we need another Constitution," Shourie said. Jayprakash Narayan had proposed a complete overhaul of the system, he said.
"Indira Gandhi`s cousin BK Nehru, an eminent civil servant, had pleaded for switching over to the Presidential system," he said.
After the 42nd amendment brought in by Indira Gandhi nobody thought of having a second look at the Constitution, he added.
"When Vajpayee and Advani set up the Venkatchaliah Commission, it was attacked so ferociously that it did not examine the structure (of the Constitution) but just wrote footnotes to existing Articles.
"We must revive that debate. We are already in a quasi presidential system. What is parliamentary is our method of obstruction," he said.
"So many facts of the present system are not known. You call this a Parliamentary system.....In a previous Lok Sabha, 99.4 per cent members were elected on minority vote," Shourie said.
