உரை....!

 Speech...!

The issue is the intersection of social justice and equality, and that of law and politics. These are vexed questions with not-so-easy solutions. But we have to find a way when law and politics, and equality and social justice intersect. The Congress, in the 77 years since independence, has found innovative methods to navigate this intersection and make laws.

Recently, the BJP government made the 103rd Amendment, introducing reservations for the economically weaker sections. We supported the amendment, but it excluded the SC, ST, and OBCs. Over 81% of people below the poverty line belong to the SC, ST, and OBC communities. If you're making reservations for the poor, how can you exclude 81% of the poor?

The BJP is using the Constitution to distort it.

 Article 320 is being used by the EC to subvert the very purpose for which it was created. Article 320 was created to preserve the purity of India's elections, but its powers are being used to destroy it.

If the Special Intensive Revision being attempted in Bihar is spread across India, crores of people will be excluded. Far from being a noisy, robust, vibrant democracy, India will become a muted and submissive electoral democracy.

So, lawyers must realize the dangers of using the Constitution to distort it. There will be more occasions when law and politics intersect, and when equality and social justice intersect. We must always stand by equality, fraternity, and liberty as Congressmen and proud inheritors of the history of the Indian National Congress.

: Former Finance Minister Shri @PChidambaram_IN on Social Justice and the Constitution: Ideas of Equality and Fraternity at the AICC Annual Legal Conclave

📍 Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi

#CongressLawConclave2025