The RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat’s declaration that the consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya was the true Day of Independence for India must be juxtaposed against the statement of the Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Shekhar Yadav, who said the wishes of the majority are the real law of the land and that Muslims should reform their law. There is nothing new in what the RSS chief has said because ever since its inception in 1925, successive sarsangchalaks like Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and M.S. Golwalkar have espoused the line that Hinduism is synonymous with nationalism. This line directly flouts the spirit of the Constitution. Hindutva is a movement within Hinduism, just as Buddhism and Jainism, which originated as reforms. A High Court or Supreme Court judge cannot equate religious morality with constitutional morality, which are mutually antithetical. Compare Bhagwat’s utterance with the judgement of the Karnataka High Court judge, Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who, in September 2024, acquitted two men accused of shouting “Jai Shree Ram” inside a mosque after trespassing into it and also threatening that Muslims would not be allowed to live in peace. The Supreme Court is examining his judgement. “What is wrong if a Hindu shouts Jai Shree Ram (inside a mosque)?” is what the judge has allegedly asked.

If we accept that the Modi government has followed a policy of pick-and-choose from those recommended by the Supreme Court collegium for elevation as high court judges, a distinct pattern emerges. The former CJI, Dhananjaya........

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