A Tribute to a Critical Scholar of Jurisprudence | Arup Kumar Sen

Very recently, we witnessed the death of one rare critical scholar of jurisprudence, A. G. Noorani. Two commentators have aptly narrated the trajectory of his critical journey: “He wrote - and wrote fearlessly - on the Emergency, on Kashmir, on the Babri Masjid. A leading voice on constitutional law and issues of Kashmir and Indian Muslims…†(The Indian Express, August 30, 2024). To put it in the words of the eminent Supreme Court advocate, Shyam Divan: “He was more of a lawyer outside the courtrooms. His scholarship and journalism were meticulous. He was a leading political commentator for decades. He did not just give his opinion, it was rigorous research that informed his views.†(Quoted in ibid.)

In his recently published book, The RSS: A Menace to India (LeftWord Books, New Delhi, 2019), Noorani observed in the Preface: “This book shows that the RSS is much more than a threat to communal amity. It poses a wider challenge. It is a threat to democratic governance and, even worse, a menace to India, the India which the nation strove to establish. It poses a threat to its values. In the last few years India has been battling for its very soul.â€

Noorani recorded his voice of dissent regarding India’s Kashmir policy: “It is abundantly clear, therefore, that from 1953 onwards, especially in the sixties, the process of erosion of the State autonomy was so rapid and on such a massive scale that entire Article 370 of the Constitution of India which was supposed to guarantee and preserve the special status of the State in the Indian Union was emptied of its substantive content…Far from enjoying a special status, as Article 370 envisaged, the State was put in a status inferior to that of other states.†(A. G. Noorani, Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir, Oxford University Press, 2011)

Noorani documented important source materials on various aspects of the Ramjanmabhumi- Babri Masjid dispute under the title Destruction of the Babri Masjid: A National Dishonour (Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2014). While reporting on the unfinished works of Noorani, Muhammad Nadeem observed: “At the time of his death, Noorani was working on several projects. The most significant of these was a book on the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict of 2019. Friends and colleagues report that he had been working tirelessly on this manuscript, even as his health declined.†(See kashmirlife.net)

A. G. Noorani is one of those rare critical intellectuals in India who did not hesitate to speak truth to power.