“Over the last one month, thousands of protesters on the streets across the country have been reading the Preamble of the Constitution for the judiciary to hear. It is the judiciary’s business to protect the Constitution,” Justice K. Chandru, former Madras High Court Judge, said here on Saturday.
“It was a Supreme Court judgment which decided the definition of secularism, and it said that the State will not take sides,” he said, addressing the 9th annual Jesuit Alumni National Congress.
He said the SC judgment on the Ayodhya dispute was given as though it was a minor land dispute. “People who, for years, complained that matters of faith can’t be heard by the Supreme Court, celebrated the verdict,” he said.
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Justice Chandru said recent incidents, including the decision to bring Delhi under the National Security Act, reminded him of the Emergency of 1975. “The then Attorney General wrote, saying that the freedom of expression and all other rights under the Constitution were suspended during the Emergency. Even leaders who hold high positions of power in the Cabinet now were detained for over a year during that time,” he said.
“If anyone asks for proof of one’s citizenship, ask them to read Article 5 of the Constitution,” he said.
Later in the day, Justice Chandru spoke on the challenges facing the Constitution at an event organised by Vaanam, a Tiruchi-based forum.
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Condemning the State government and the police for coming down heavily on residents who drew kolams outside houses to express their opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Justice Chandru said the people understood the laws of the land better than the lawmakers. The Constitution had been better understood by young protesters than those whose job it was to understand and uphold it, he said.