‘Many years later, another Marxian
rephrased this as the choice between socialism and barbarity. Which of these
will prevail is a question which the twenty-first century must be left to
answer.’
-Eric Hobsbawm
Having seen a century come alive with
ideas and hopes of humanity, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer touched so many lives
wandering in many worlds- as a lawyer, jurist, minister, writer and humanist.
His was a time and age both enriching and challenging, it was an era of two
worlds battling out for narrow supremacy of ideologies and he stood by those
who were left out of as the vanguard of justice and the voice of the voiceless.
His reading of the overarching architecture of justice was through the mind of
a meticulous philosopher but also with eyes that acknowledged human struggles.
Towering personalities of his generation have left us a legacy and a message
that the purpose of life is a life of purpose. The miracle of life is not to
fly but to walk on earth. To wipe a tear and to bring a smile has been his
mission in life, a literal translation of Gandhi’s Talisman. To fill what is
empty, we have to empty what is full; as the Bible says, ‘If the clouds be full
of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.’
Nations exist not only as a testimony
to territory or integration of a people but also to the aspiration of something
more inclusive and just. This re-ordering of the social system is what is
envisaged through a ‘transformative’ Constitution like that of India. Our
Constitution is unique in having the just reordering of the social order as its
‘grundnorm’. Our lives are horizontally and vertically divided by the
hierarchies of gender and caste, but the vision document and the well spring of
law speaks of an egalitarian world and the well being of the poorest through
not only Fundamental Rights but Directive Principles of the State Policy. That
it is a directive to the state and speaks about the outcome of governance is
often forgotten. Justice Krishna Iyer’s judgements on the bench reflected the
highest ideals of this aspiration whether it be trade union rights or Muslim
personal laws. His verdicts brimmed with the melody of justice along with the
felicity of the English language itself.
No country is perfect let alone a
country like ours of gigantic proportions. It is simply unacceptable that 400
million go to bed hungry every day and only about 3% children make it to
post-graduate level education. The nouveau riche is in a stupor from which they
do not want to wake up. The ones in the squalor are crying hoarse yet we build
our edifice of development razing down the hovels of the poor to conquer the
earth and beyond. A partition in our souls will be more dreadful than the
partition of our soil and an India that belongs to only a few will easily
become an India that belongs to none.
To build a just and fair world, the
beginning lies not only in imagining the future but also in re-imagining the
past. The past is the mirror that holds us in firm stead of actions- it is the
ashes from which we are reborn as new. In an age when idealism is slowly fading
away and armed violence and wilfully created epidemics are invading our vision
of future, Justice Iyer’s presence will remain an assurance and inspiring
example of never retiring from being human and humane.
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