NEW DELHI, June 28: Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai on Saturday said the framer of the constitution B.R. Ambedkar envisioned one Constitution for the country to keep it united and never favoured the idea of a separate constitution for a state as Article 370 guaranteed special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Constitution Preamble Park in Nagpur, the CJI said the Supreme Court drew inspiration from Dr Ambedkar’s vision of a united India under a single constitution while upholding the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Justice Gavai was part of a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, that unanimously upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370. “When Article 370 was challenged, it came before us, and when the hearing was underway, I recalled Dr Babasaheb’s words that one Constitution is suited for a country… If we want to keep the country united, we need only one Constitution,” he said, while addressing the gathering.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre decided to strip Jammu and Kashmir of special status and divide it into two Union Territories. Justice Gavai said Dr Ambedkar had been criticised, saying the Constitution provides for too much federalism, and in times of war, the country may not remain united.
However, he had responded, saying the Constitution would suit all the challenges and keep the nation united, the CJI said. “See the situation in the neighbouring countries, be it Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Whenever our country faces challenges, it has remained united,” Justice Gavai said.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said he was happy that CJI Gavai inaugurated the Constitution Preamble Park and unveiled a statue of Dr Ambedkar. Freedom, equality and brotherhood were Dr Ambedkar’s valuable gift to the country in the form of the Constitution, he said.
Meanwhile, the Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday asserted that the Preamble of a Constitution was “not changeable” as it is the “seed” on which the document grows. He said the preamble of no other Constitution has undergone change except that of India.
“But this Preamble was changed by the 42nd Constitution (Amendment) Act of 1976,” he said noting that the words “socialist”, “secular”, and “integrity” were added. “We must reflect,” he said adding that B.R. Ambedkar did painstaking work on the Constitution and he must have “surely focused on it.”
His remarks at a book launch event came after the RSS called for a review of the words “socialist and secular” in the Preamble of the Constitution, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar. The Congress and other opposition parties have slammed the RSS for calling for a national debate on whether the terms ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ should remain in the Preamble, terming it “political opportunism” and a “deliberate assault” on the soul of the Constitution.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh sought to defend the call saying any right-thinking citizen would endorse it because everybody knows that these words were not part of the original Constitution written by Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
(Manas Dasgupta)
