NL Interview: Madhav Khosla on India’s constitution, citizenship law protests, and Uniform Civil Code
The legal scholar says the new citizenship law is unconstitutional.
Khosla sat down with Madhu Trehan to talk about the constitution, the protests against the citizenship law, secularism, and the demand for a Uniform Civil Code.
He argues that the new law is unconstitutional. "One level is that they are distinguishing between citizens on the basis of religion," he says, "and the second level is that it violates a commitment to secularism."
Pointing to the absence of organised leadership of the protests, he says spontaneity cuts both ways. “The positive is it’s erupting everywhere, the negative is whether, in the long run, it will actually be channelised well."
On the demand for a Uniform Civil Code, he says, “One of the ironies of Indian history is that at the time Nehru and Ambedkar wanted a Uniform Civil Code. Today who wants it? Why have liberals given up on the Uniform Civil Code? Part of the problem is that we allowed those concessions in the first place."
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