Life and Liberty: India at 75 years of Independence

Full text of the speech delivered by Justice L.Nageswara Rao at a webinar, hosted by The Leaflet on August 15, 2022.

– – –

On this momentous milestone, I am very pleased to be amongst you all. I take this opportunity to engage in some introspection into the idea of India and our identity as a democratic society after 75 years of our independence. As you would note, the evolution of our understanding of 'liberty' is the chosen marker for today's discussion. 

In the words of Aristotle, "the basis of a democratic state is liberty". But what does liberty mean? When we list liberty as the bedrock of a democratic nation, what is it that we seek to preserve or achieve? Surely, we cannot frame the sum and substance of liberty as a goal nor contextualise its significance in the exact notions as may have been done through time, say by the Founding Fathers of America or by the average Indian citizen under the British rule or by a person on the death row today.

Possibly, the first instrument which bears a reference to 'liberty' is the Magna Carta issued in 1215, which was intended to be a peace treaty to end a civil war between King John and rebellious barons. Although rooted in war and thereafter, repudiated and re-issued several times, the Magna Carta has shaped the development of the law in England, the United States and several parts of the globe. Also referred to as a Charter of Liberties, it promised to the entire political nation autonomous conduct, restraints on executive power and the rule of law. The most widely commemorated provision of the Magna Carta is that: "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land".