Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal called on citizens to adopt the virtues symbolised by the Indian flag, recalling B.R. Ambedkar’s vision behind the Ashok Chakra’s 24 spokes. Speaking at the SCBA’s Independence Day event, he stressed equality, mercy, compassion, and brotherhood as guiding principles.
New Delhi: Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday urged citizens to adopt the values symbolised by the Indian tricolour — equality, compassion, brotherhood, and other noble virtues.
Speaking during the 79th Independence Day celebrations organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on the lawns of the Supreme Court, Meghwal said these values are deeply embedded in the design and history of the national flag.
He delivered his address in Hindi, recalling how the Constituent Assembly had set up an ad-hoc committee to decide on a national flag for independent India. This committee had to finalise the colours and the design features of the flag.
Explaining the historical debate around the flag, Meghwal said:
“The three colours and other things were generally selected. But there was a charkha in the midst to which B R Ambedkar, a member, objected, saying it would appear to be the flag of a political party. So there was a controversy.”
He went on to narrate how Dr. Ambedkar responded when the meaning of the spinning wheel was explained to him:
“When Ambedkar argued, it was explained to him that the spinning wheel meant progress by working round-the-clock, to which he said the Ashok Chakra or Dhamma Chakra had a similar meaning, where all its 24 spokes implied constant movement, work and progress.”
Meghwal further said that Ambedkar elaborated on the symbolic meaning of each spoke:
“I have also written an article about it one spoke represents compassion, the others mercy, brotherhood, equality and justice to all. One of the spokes also represents facing adverse situations with fortitude just like all of us are celebrating this Independence-Day event despite heavy rain and storms.”
Encouraging people to follow these ideals, Meghwal added:
“We must inculcate equality, mercy, compassion, brotherhood. We must learn from the flag.”
The Law Minister also reminded the gathering of Ambedkar’s role in framing the Constitution:
“Ambedkar championed the drafting of the Constitution with a strong emphasis on equality, while underscoring that equality in the society would secure freedom.”
During the event, SCBA President Vikas Singh spoke about the Supreme Court’s role in safeguarding the freedoms guaranteed to every citizen.
He said:
“The freedom from British rule should culminate in independence or freedom for the people of this country. And when I say freedom of the people of this country, I mean the freedom which involves equality, security, freedom of thought and expression.”
Singh stressed that these freedoms — whether freedom of thought, speech, security, equality, cultural preferences, religion, or diversity — have one ultimate protector:
“And when you analyse the freedoms that come with independence, whatever it be, whether it be freedom of expression, thought or of security or quality or choices or your preferences, your culture, your religion, your diversity then the only protector of all those freedoms is this great institution, which is the Supreme Court.”
Highlighting another key aspect of independence, Singh said:
“If we do not have the right people managing the judiciary, we cannot expect the right decisions for the people of this country, and we then ultimately will not get the true freedom which we strive for.”
He touched upon the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) issue and its importance in ensuring the right people are chosen for judicial appointments:
“The NJAC was struck down on the second point that the government cannot be given primacy in the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary. And I totally agree with that part of the judgment that it has to be with the collegium.”
However, Singh pointed out that another key part of NJAC was left unaddressed:
“But the first part of the NJAC of collecting data and of preparing a database of lawyers who are eligible to be appointed was not even commented on in that judgment and accordingly, I had drafted a law and given it to the predecessor of Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal for bringing out a bill to regulate the collegium system.”
Explaining the intent behind his proposal, Singh said:
“The purpose of the first part of the NJAC was to provide judges with a secretariat where they should be able to collate the names of all the eligible people and ensure that the best people from the system are considered for elevation to the higher judiciary.”
He revealed that the matter was raised in Parliament but did not see progress:
“In the NJAC judgment, there is a mention of the memorandum of procedure. Unfortunately, that MOP has not been deliberated upon for a large number of years.”
Singh concluded on an optimistic note:
“And I am quite hopeful that in the present dispensation, we can have a meaningful dialogue on the memorandum, which can bring in this transparency in the matter of appointment of judges, which can bring in this system of creating the database of people who should be considered eligible for appointment to the higher judiciary, which can be a base.”
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