DNA Edit: CJI gives his ‘judgment’

Chief Justice of India, Jagdish Singh Khehar’s address on Independence Day — that every citizen of India is equal to everybody else and has equal opportunities, and that “Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Muslims or Jains should be proud of his own religion to be an Indian” — encapsulates the spirit of this glorious nation. It’s also a judgement, so to speak, on the controversy that erupted following former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari’s claim that Muslims in India are an insecure lot. As the head of the Indian judiciary, CJI Khehar wasn’t making empty assertions of his belief in the nation’s foundational ethos. He drew upon his own experiences and those of his family to bolster his observations.

The first ever Sikh CJI of the country — from a minority community — Khehar, while in school in the 1960s, became a citizen of India after renouncing his Kenyan nationality. His great grandfather’s role in the freedom movement had forced the family to flee the country and settle in Africa. In the most compelling way, Khehar’s success should silence those voices that purport to portray India only as a land riven by communal, sectarian and ethnic violence. No country is perfect, and neither is India. But, there is confidence among the people in the hallowed institutions that have zealously protected our democracy and sought to implement social and economic justice. The current CJI is a shining example of that school of thought.