Listen to this article:

New Delhi: “What is a home? A place of belonging, shelter, and source of identity. There is immense power in calling the Constitution one’s home. A profession may describe what we do, a calling may describe what inspires us, but a home is where we return to, where we locate ourselves and where our deepest convictions reside.”

These remarks were made by Justice B.V. Nagarathna, while delivering the keynote address at the launch of one of India’s most celebrated human rights lawyers Indira Jaising’s memoir The Constitution Is My Home, which is in the form of a conversation with co-author Ritu Menon, in Delhi on Thursday, May 21.

The book launch, organised by HarperCollins India, was held at the Kamala Devi Complex, India International Centre, with the crowd spilling beyond the hall. The evening, much like the book, involved a candid but perceptive conversation, this time between senior advocate Jaising and journalist Sreenivasan Jain.

In her opening remarks on the book, Jaising reflected on why they chose the title for the book. The answer, she said, emerged from a question she was often asked: “Where are you from?”. Over time, she realised the response was, “I belong to the Constitution of India”.

The conversation moved from questions around the legal system and how effective it is today, gender discrimination clashing........

© The Wire