With candor and courage

The name itself inspires awe. India’s numero uno lawyer for three decades. Padma Vibhushan, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, and probably, the best senior counsel ever to have argued before Indian courts. Fali Nariman requires no introduction to lawyer or layman. Before Memory Fades, his autobiography, is a delightful read, peppered with an impish sense of humor, warm, witty and anecdotal. Nariman’s latest book, The State of the Nation, is engrossing for the lawyer, but not that easy a read for the layman.
It traces the country’s rise and fall through the prism of constitutional law. Many landmark judgments are lucidly explained by the ace lawyer.

For all of us who began our legal careers soon after the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Emergency — the most serious onslaught on our Constitution — judgments like ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant Shukla (Habeus Corpus Case), Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India (confiscation of her passport by the post-emergency Janata Party government) — makes one nostalgic. Nariman characteristically minces no words in describing the role of some supine judges during the Emergency as also pliant Presidents of India who meekly surrendered to every whim and caprice of the Prime Minister. The author displays not the slightest political bias except a vigilante’s love for the sanctity of the Indian Constitution.
Four decades later, when our nostalgia is often replaced with cynicism and self-doubt, Nariman’s book reinforces democratic values, the importance of civil liberties and the rule of law. All this may slow things down in the short term, but is obviously a price worth paying is Nariman’s central thesis.
In his analysis of how our federal structure has worked, Nariman does not advocate a strong center and weak states but ‘self-reliant’ states which would make for a truly united India. In the chapter on how the Constitution has worked for the man on the Andheri local, the author candidly admits that a huge chasm is developing between the ‘very affluent and the very poor,’ which poses the greatest single serious threat to the survival of our body politic.
In his chapter on "Corruption,” after discussing the judicial response to scams like the one exposed by Tehelka and the JMM bribery case, Nariman sets out the endemic problem of corruption in the context of international developments in the USA, UK and Europe, and the evolving Indian judicial response. The author is critical of two judgments of the Supreme Court where the earlier judgment of a two-judge bench was overruled by a three-judge bench, to dilute the orders, which would have gone a long way to combat corruption. Similarly, the parliamentarian in Nariman is aghast at the manner in which our legislature frustrated discussions on the Lokayukta Bill. However, he advises that in "this frustrating atmosphere also, keep up the pressure and never lose heart.” The realist in Nariman admits that "the need of the hour is great men (and women) and quite frankly they are in short supply.”
The most fascinating and daring chapter in this book is titled "Combating Corruption in the Higher Judiciary,” a taboo subject, much discussed in court corridors and cocktail circuits but seldom in newspaper columns or even on the most strident television channels. Nariman explains the reason for this — "the higher judiciary has almost unbridled powers of contempt and hence, the media is tight-lipped.” Only Nariman has the courage to state: "But let a complaint be made even by a responsible individual against a reputedly corrupt judge in the higher judiciary, and no newspaper will publish it! Give the newspaper as much proof or evidence as you will — it will still not publish anything! Regrettably — with a few notable exceptions — the fraternity of justices in the higher judiciary in India tend to stick together when anyone speaks of any wrongdoing about one of them — alas, even when some of its members themselves entertain a shrewd suspicion of some wrongdoing! There pervades, in the higher echelons of the judiciary, what I would characterize as spirit of trade unionism.” What follows is a most engrossing discussion on the few cases where corrupt judges were publicly exposed and removed from office. For this chapter alone, this book is worth purchasing. BERJIS DESAI