Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Saturday declared that Article 370 was fundamentally opposed to Dr B R Ambedkar’s vision of a single Constitution binding the country together, asserting that Ambedkar never supported the idea of separate constitutions for individual states.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Constitution Preamble Park, CJI Gavai said the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the abrogation of Article 370 drew directly from Ambedkar’s commitment to unity through one Constitution. Gavai served on the five-judge Constitution bench, led by then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, that unanimously upheld the Centre’s 2019 decision to revoke Article 370, which had granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
“When the challenge to Article 370 came before us, I remembered Dr Ambedkar’s words that a single Constitution is essential to keep India united,” Gavai told the audience in Marathi.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. Gavai noted that critics of Ambedkar had once argued the Constitution’s federal features might fragment the nation in times of crisis, but Ambedkar had firmly believed the Constitution could withstand such challenges and keep India together.
“Look at our neighbours — Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka — but India has stayed united despite many challenges,” Gavai remarked.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, present at the event, praised CJI Gavai for inaugurating the Constitution Preamble Park and unveiling a statue of Dr Ambedkar. He called freedom, equality, and fraternity Ambedkar’s most precious gifts to India through the Constitution.
Gadkari also highlighted how the Constitution defines the rights and duties of the four pillars of democracy: the executive, judiciary, legislature, and media.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis lauded Gavai’s leadership as CJI and said the government aims to ensure the Preamble of the Constitution reaches every student as part of the Constitution’s Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
“If we embrace the Preamble’s values, 90 percent of our nation’s problems can be resolved,” Fadnavis asserted.
