He said “Our country is a sub-continent of diversity in itself and Pluralism has already achieved its greatest triumph – the existence of India
Ahmedabad: The Indian Constitution creators had rejected the ideas of Hindu India and Muslim India but wanted to build the Republic of India, said Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud on Saturday.
He said this in Gujarat while delivering a lecture on the topic ‘The Hues That Make India: From Plurality to Pluralism’, as part of the 15th Justice PD Desai Memorial Lecture organized in Ahmedabad.
“The creators of the Indian Constitution rejected the notion of a Hindu nation and a Muslim nation. They recognized only the Republic of India,” said Justice Chandrachud.
The Indian Constitution envisages pluralism and no individual or institution can claim a monopoly over the idea of India, he said.
Chandrachud also referred to as a “positive obligation” for protecting a plural identity.
He said the creators of the Indian Constitution put trust in the future generations to create a common bond of what it means to be an Indian, which “shunned homogeneity and celebrated diversity in what is meant to be an Indian”.
Chandrachud compared the “layered Indian identity” to Matryoshka dolls and said this is what makes us Indian “and must be central to our understanding of pluralism and efforts to foster it.
“Homogeneity is not the defining feature of Indianness and our differences are not our weakness. India’s ability to transcend these differences in our recognition of our shared humanity is a source of our strength,” Justice Chandrachud said.
He said “Our country is a sub-continent of diversity in itself and Pluralism has already achieved its greatest triumph – the existence of India. The country’s continued survival shows us that our desire for a shared pursuit of happiness outweighs the difference in the color of our skin, the languages we speak, or the name we give the almighty,”.
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