The Constitution of India has immutable civil rights and principles enshrined in its fundamental rights. These include liberty, equality, freedom of religion, life and dignity. The principles of liberty are the nectar of the Constitution. With the lens of Article 21, it magnifies the scope of liberty to all aspects of individual life.

Constitutional morality, as argued by Dr. Ambedkar, was to be the guiding light for governance and institutions of the nation. These principles override all societal norms and moralities, and the government should strive to achieve a society that truly embodies these principles. However, even after nearly 76 years of enforcement, the society is yet to assimilate these principles in its heart.

The character of Indian society today and even forever was conservative. We did have many social reformers like the Vachanakaras, Dāsas, Warkari, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekanand etc, to name a few, but they haven't been without resistance. The nature of society is to resist changes, all societies share this nature. But Indian Hindu society is radically different today. It was impossible, for example, a hundred years ago that people of different castes even dine together, forget even a marriage. The barrier of caste has been broken in employment, community participation, dining, shared spaces, etc. But it is still prevalent, although weaker than before, in relationships and marriages. The core resistance against these principles of liberty is the culture and tradition argument. But the same cultures and traditions are evolving since forever. The biggest feature of Hindu society is that it is never hesitant to reforms. It is a society that constantly assimilates new ideas and evolves.

The idea of liberty has to be protected without any qualms. The society might resist it, but the government should choose constitutional morality over societal morality. But when the governments elected by conservatives enact laws that try to circumnavigate liberty, it becomes a case of caution. Political ideologies aside, the sanctity of liberty should persist. The constitution and its founding fathers dreamt of a country in which all adult citizens enjoy freedom and the decisions of their life are paramount. No social, religious, or parental pressure has any legal moorings over it. Indian society has already shed its compliance to ancient codes of laws to a large extent. The spirit of liberty and constitutional morality has indeed percolated its layers, but it has few more harder barriers to cross. The institutions should always strive to break the last barriers without considerations to the societal morality. Constitutional morality should be like a strong external magnetic field that realigns the dipoles of a ferromagnet, in this case, the society. Let adult individuals have complete agency of their lives. Clever laws that undermine this liberty might be constitutional in letter, but a vile attack to its spirit.

• Immadi Pulakeshi