Former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Nariman said Shanti Bhushan was a man of tremendous commitment who quit the BJP because he believed it lacked secularism. He recalled that Bhushan always acted according to principles shaped by his family’s strong secular tradition.
Justice Rohinton Nariman, a former Supreme Court judge, honored the late Union Law Minister Shanti Bhushan by emphasizing the deep-rooted secularism that characterized his life.
He referenced Bhushan’s memoir, Courting Destiny, highlighting that Bhushan’s family was firmly secular. His father, Vishwamitra, honored Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity during a havan when Bhushan’s sister was born.
He Stated,
“We understand from Shantiji’s autobiography that his was a secular family. His father Vishwamitra had a havan performed when his sister Sudha was born. On two of the sides of the mandap, he had in Sanskrit, God is great. On one of the other sides he had Allahu akbar and on another side he had God is great for the Christian faith. This faced huge opposition as you can imagine but his father pushed through and the havan was carried out despite the murmurs. This is something important that one must remember to understand the mental makeup of Shantiji ever since he was a child.”
This commitment to secularism prompted Bhushan to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1986, just six years after joining. Justice Nariman explained that Bhushan also departed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) later on due to concerns about the individuals being included by party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
Justice Nariman elaborated,
“Shanti Bhushan joined the BJP in 1980 and resigned from the BJP in 1986, saying that they were not secular. You remember how I started this speech by saying the secular tradition of his family was uppermost in his mind. Then he joined AAP in 2014 and left it when he found that Arvind Kejriwal was letting in all sorts of persons to come in and stand for election. So here you had a man of tremendous commitment, a man who believed what he said, and he stood up for what he said,”
Justice Nariman delivered these remarks during the inaugural Shanti Bhushan Centenary Memorial Lecture. He also remarked that Shanti Bhushan’s dedication to secularism was evident in his work as both a lawyer and a Law Minister.
As the Union Law Minister in the Janata government following the tumultuous emergency era, Bhushan faced the task of reversing the constitutional amendments enacted by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
A primary concern was the 42nd Amendment, which had limited the powers of constitutional courts and curtailed citizens’ fundamental rights.
Justice Nariman noted that Bhushan successfully rectified much of the damage, while wisely choosing not to reverse the inclusion of “secular” and “socialist” in the preamble.
Justice Nariman commented,
“When it came to other parts of the 42nd Amendment, fortunately, Shanti Bhushan’s sagacity came. Secular and socialist were two words that were added to the preamble of our Constitution by the 42nd amendment. He didn’t even attempt to get rid of this because it’s obvious that this is a secular constitution, and the Directive Principles Chapter shows that it’s a socialist constitution. However, he defines secular as meaning equal respect for all religions, and defines socialist as meaning anybody who is downtrodden alone can be lifted up. These two definitions were not passed by the Rajya Sabha, which still had a Congress majority. So though socialist and secular remain, these definitions never came into force in our Constitution. Article 51A fundamental duties was also left untouched and not sought to be done away with,”
The event featured additional remarks from Shanti Bhushan’s son, Senior Advocate Jayant Bhushan, and grandson Pawan Bhushan.