Blitz Bureau
SUPREME Court Justice BR Gavai has said the Constitution has stood the test of time and made the country strong, stable and united, as he paid homage to its chief architect Bhimrao Ambedkar on his 135th birth anniversary on April 14.
Speaking at the first ‘Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lecture’ organised at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Justice Gavai said Ambedkar was “one of the greatest sons of the country” and a “great visionary” who contributed to various fields as an economist, a social reformer as well as an educationist.
“I’m here only because of Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution of India,” said Justice Gavai who is in line to become the CJI after Justice Sanjiv Khanna in May 2025 and will be the second Dalit to hold the office after Justice KG Balakrishnan.
Justice Gavai emphasised that in the last 75 years, the country which was ridden with caste, creed and religion has had two Presidents, a Chief Justice of India as well as a Speaker from the Scheduled Caste community, and even a woman Prime Minister.
He added that the country also has a prime minister from a humble background, who belongs to a backward class and takes pride in saying that he could be the PM due to the Constitution of India. In his address, Justice Gavai discussed at length the contribution of Ambedkar in the drafting of the Constitution and observed that the journey of the last 75 years of the working of the Constitution by all the organs i.e. the legislature, the executive and the judiciary has been satisfactory.
“To say that the journey of 75 years has not been satisfactory in my view would be unjust to the efforts of the Constitution makers, the efforts of the executive, the efforts of the legislature and the efforts of the judiciary,” he said.
“When we celebrate the birth of Dr Ambedkar, whose initial entry in the constituent assembly was only to protect the interests of the Scheduled Castes, the oppressed and the downtrodden, I recognise his invaluable contribution in presenting to this country a constitution, which has not only stood the test of the time for the last 75 years, but it is a Constitution that made India strong, stable and united,” added the judge.
