Constitution has stood test of time, made India strong and stable: Justice BR Gavai

New Delhi: Supreme Court Justice B R Gavai on Monday said the Indian 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.

Justice Gavai, the top court’s most senior judge after the Chief Justice of India, was 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.

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All of us will always recognise his greatest contribution as the chief architect of the Constitution of India, the judge said.

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 taste of the time for the last 75 years, but it is a Constitution that made India strong, stable and united,” added the judge.

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.

There are hundreds of IAS, IPS officers who belong to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes, he said.

Justice Gavai 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.

“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 K G Balakrishnan.

Referring to his speeches, Justice Gavai recalled that when Ambedkar became a part of the constituent assembly, he was not aware that he would be heading the drafting committee and although he “suffered a lot of account of untouchability, he did carry the bitterness while working in cons assembly.” “He was always of the view that above everything, is the nation. He always advocated for the unity of the nation,” he said.

Justice Gavai further said in the past years, the country faced various external aggressions and internal disturbances, yet it remained united and strong, with the Constitution being amended from time to time to adapt to the changing needs.

“When we compare ourselves to the neighbouring countries, we would find how relevant his (Ambedkar’s) proposals were. We have seen that in the last 75 years, the Constitution has been amended from time to time to adapt to the changing needs because the Constitution is not a static document,” the judge said.

Ambedkar is recognised and hailed for his struggle to empower marginalised sections of society and his key role in drafting the Constitution.

Born in a Dalit family in 1891, he was a brilliant student who went on to study in foreign countries. He was India’s first law minister. He died in 1956.