Constitution Is a Living Conversation, Former Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud speaks at ADYPU

VMPL
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 16: "The Constitution is not a book of ready-made answers but a living conversation shaped by disagreement, experience and dialogue," said former Chief Justice of India Justice D. Y. Chandrachud while delivering a thought-provoking address on constitutional values, democracy and the rule of law at the School of Law and Liberal Arts, ADYPU, during the launch of his book Why the Constitution Matters.
Justice Chandrachud challenged the popular belief that judges possess final answers to all questions. "If there is one habit the law teaches you well, it is how to live with uncertainty, and to live comfortably with it," he said, adding that disagreement is not a weakness of democracy but its defining strength. The Constitution, he noted, does not seek to eliminate disagreement, but to provide a framework for living with it.
Drawing from over two decades on the Bench, Justice Chandrachud spoke about humility in judging, the discipline of language, and the realisation of how limited individual knowledge is in the face of vast human experience. "Every sentence has consequences. Every pause carries meaning. Over time, one learns that silence too can speak," he observed.
Explaining the motivation behind his book, Justice Chandrachud said speeches allow the law to step outside the courtroom. Unlike judgments, which resolve disputes, speeches invite reflection and dialogue.
He described the Constitution as a living dialogue between past and present, institutions and citizens, power and conscience. "To treat the Constitution as frozen on 26 January 1950 is to misunderstand its purpose. Interpretation is not deviation, it is fidelity," he said.
Justice Chandrachud also reflected on silences in the law, stressing that some of the most transformative constitutional moments arise from listening to voices that were historically ignored. Referring to Antigone, he warned that law collapses when power refuses to listen to conscience.
Highlighting India's social reform tradition, he recalled the contributions of Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, noting that constitutional ideals of equality and dignity were shaped long before they were written into law. "Experience does not dilute constitutional meaning, it deepens it," he said.
He also addressed unfinished constitutional challenges, pointing out that marital rape is still not recognised as a criminal offence in India. "Is it not time for our society to change?" he asked, underscoring that constitutional work is never complete.
Justice Chandrachud concluded by saying that the Constitution does not promise perfection, but offers a process through which deeply different people can still share a common political project. "Democracies do not collapse because people dissent. They collapse when dissent is silenced," he said.
The event was attended by Dr. Rakesh Kumar Jain, Vice Chancellor; Dr. Sudhakar Shinde, Registrar; Dr. Sunny Thomas, Dean, School of Law and Liberal Arts; and Kedar Kulkarni, Assistant Professor, along with students and faculty members of Ajeenky DY Patil University. The programme ended with an interactive discussion, reinforcing the idea of the Constitution as an ongoing, living conversation.
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