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Terming dissent a ‘safety valve’ of democracy, Supreme Court judge Justice D Y Chandrachud has said ‘blanket labelling’ of dissent as anti-national or anti-democratic strikes at the ‘heart’ of the country’s commitment to protect Constitutional values and promote deliberative democracy.
Delivering a lecture in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Justice Chandrachud also said that use of state machinery to curb dissent instills fear, which violates the rule of law.
“The blanket labelling of dissent as anti-national or anti-democratic strikes at the heart of our commitment to protect Constitutional values and the promotion of
deliberative democracy,” he said.
Protecting dissent is but a reminder that while a democratic elected government offers us a legitimate tool for development and social coordination, they can never claim a monopoly over the values and identities that define our plural society, Justice Chandrachud said.
He was speaking on the topic, ‘The Hues That Make India: From Plurality to Pluralism’, as part of the 15th Justice P D Desai Memorial Lecture organised in Ahmedabad.
“Employment of state machinery to curb dissent instills fear and creates a chilling atmosphere on free peace which violates the rule of law and distracts from the
constitutional vision of pluralist society,” he added.
Justice Chandrachud’s comments came at a time when the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) has triggered massive protests in many parts of the country.
