CJI: Building an equal India far from complete, but Murmu appointment step towards inclusivity

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice Bhushan Gavai, only the second from the Dalit community to head the judiciary, on Friday said the journey for building a just, equal and inclusive India is not yet complete though appointment of Droupadi Murmu, daughter of a poor tribal family, as President, illustrates the distance the country has covered towards achieving the goal.In his Independence Day speech in Supreme Court, the CJI said, "It is the destiny of India that the Santhal community, which was among the first to rise against the British in 1855, now has its daughter, President Droupadi Murmu, holding the highest constitutional office in the land." "Her journey from a small village in Odisha to Rashtrapati Bhavan is a testament to how far we have travelled. And yet, we must remember that the work of building a just, equal, and inclusive India is far from complete," he said after hoisting the tricolour at SC.He said judges of the constitutional courts have the responsibility to promote, protect, imbibe, and defend the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. He reiterated the judges of constitutional courts, HCs and SC, are co-equals and must bear the responsibility of giving "a broader, more purposive interpretation to the values of the Constitution". Only when the rights of the marginalised are protected will Mahatma Gandhi's Swaraj be real and Ambedkar's idea of democracy be complete, the CJI said.

Hours after PM mentioned the contributions of Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, CJI Gavai said, "From the hills of today's Jharkhand, where the Santhals lit the first flames of rebellion, to the forests of Chota Nagpur where Birsa Munda dreamed of dignity, from the humble school in Pune where Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule opened the doors of learning to the excluded, to the renunciation of a knighthood by Tagore in protest against injustice, from crafting of our Constitution by Babasaheb Ambedkar, to the moral compass of Mahatma Gandhi, our freedom was forged not in one place, nor by one people, but by courage of many, united by one dream of equal India.

"