In a deeply personal and powerful address at the historic Oxford Union, Chief Justice of India Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai reflected on his journey from a municipal school in Maharashtra to the highest judicial office in the country, a path he credited entirely to the Constitution of India.
Speaking on the theme “From Representation to Realisation: Living Ambedkar’s Dream”, CJI Gavai opened with a stark reminder of India’s caste past, “Once considered untouchable, impure people like me weren’t even allowed to dream. Yet, today, I stand before you as Chief Justice of India. That’s the power of our Constitution.”
“This is what the Constitution of India did. It told the people of India that they belong, that they can speak for themselves and that they have an equal place in every sphere of society and power,” Justice Gavai said.
Justice Gavai, the second Dalit and first Buddhist to become CJI, emphasised that for millions like him, the Constitution is more than a legal document; it’s a lifeline. “It dares to confront caste, poverty, exclusion and injustice not with denial, but with resolve,” he said.
“I stand before you to say: for India’s most vulnerable citizens, the Constitution is not merely a legal charter or a political framework. It is a feeling, a lifeline, a quiet revolution etched in ink. In my own journey, from a municipal school to the Office of the Chief Justice of India, it has been a guiding force,” Justice Gavai added.
He traced how political representation, social reform, and affirmative action rooted in Babasaheb Ambedkar’s vision have helped rewrite the destiny of India’s most marginalised. “Ambedkar didn’t just dream of democracy, he insisted on social democracy,” the CJI noted.
“The Constitution is a social document, one that does not avert its gaze from the brutal truths of caste, poverty, exclusion, and injustice. It does not pretend that all are equal in a land scarred by deep inequality. Instead, it dares to intervene, to rewrite the script, to recalibrate power, and to restore dignity,” he said.
Highlighting landmark judicial decisions from the Mandal verdict to NALSA and the women’s quota amendment, he said the Constitution continues to evolve.
“In an unequal society, he believed, democracy cannot survive unless power is also divided among communities, not just among institutions. Representation, therefore, was a mechanism of redistributing power, not only between the legislature, executive, and judiciary but among social groups that had been denied a share for centuries,” Justice Gavai said
CJI highlighted the evolution of affirmative action in India and said initially, it was through quotas in legislatures, government jobs, and educational institutions, and later expanded through judicial interpretation and legislative reforms.
He also talked about the 2023 constitutional amendment guaranteeing political reservations for women and the Supreme Court’s endorsement of sub-classification within Scheduled Castes to ensure intra-group equity.
