Permanent Mission of India
New York

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Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Vision of Constitutional Morality and its relevance for Multilateralism – Commemoration of 135^th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Welcome Remarks by Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, Permanent Representative

14 April 2026

   I welcome all of you to this event commemorating the 135^th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution and a great social reformer, legal and economic scholar and statesman.  I take this opportunity to especially invite my dear friends Dr. Raja Sekhar Vundru, a senior Indian civil servant, academic scholar and author of a book on Dr Ambedkar,  and Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School Dr. Santosh Raut. 

2. At the outset, let me mention that of the many contributions Dr. Ambedkar made towards India’s independence, emancipation of dispossessed and marginalized communities and crafting the Constitution of the new Republic, his ardent advocacy for inculcating the spirit of constitutional morality among Indian citizens was very significant and unique. India became independent after long years of colonial rule and plunder. Yet, the new Republic was a revolutionary democracy that granted universal suffrage at a time when older democracies did not grant women the right to vote. India became a sovereign democratic republic with a resolve to secure for all of its citizens social, economic and political justice; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual. Recognising the contradiction of ensuring legal equality without yet securing economic and social equality, Dr. Ambedkar focused on cultivating the spirit of constitutional morality as reverence for the form and spirit of our Constitution which had to be nurtured and strengthened to overcome centuries of social prejudices and forms of doing business in our polity and society that were not in consonance with the values of the Indian Constitution.

3. In his view, constitutional morality refers to the adherence to the core principles of the Constitution which include justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, secularism and the rule of law. He looked at it as a guiding principle to ensure that action of the Government and citizens align with the values and spirit of the Constitution.  He was inspired by the ideals of Indian philosophy, including Buddhism, and comparative constitutionalism across the world. Dr. Ambedkar quoted historian George Grote who championed Athenian  democracy as a rare and difficult sentiment born from instilling constitutional morality as a civic culture of respect for constitutional forms and offices along with the vigilant application of public reason, self-restraint and critique.  It was this civic culture Dr. Ambedkar spoke of during his delivered on November 4, 1948, where he said that India would have to learn and imbibe constitutional morality as it was not a ‘natural sentiment’ and that it had to be established and strengthened to ensure we remain a free democracy.

 Friends

4. Something similar happened at the international level in that time period. “We the people” of the world established the United Nations in 1945 to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the equality of states large and small, and to promote social progress and better standards of life. The UN Charter is akin to a constitution envisioned to be a living instrument that sets forth the powers and functions of the principal organs of the UN and lays down the rights and duties of the member states. The constitutional morality of the UN Charter refers to the core values that are integral to the principles of the UN: (i) sovereign equality of member states; (ii) fulfilling obligations assumed under the Charter in good faith; (iii) settling international disputes by peaceful means so that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered; (iv)refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state; and (v) non-interference in the matters of states which are within their domestic jurisdiction.

5. Respect for the constitutional morality of the UN Charter is not a natural sentiment. As Dr Ambedkar advised in the context of the Indian Constitution, it must be cultivated consciously, further strengthened and widely diffused so that the principles of the UN continue to guide the conduct of international relations and peaceful cooperation between states. In today’s troubled times of political fragmentation and constant conflict, Dr. Ambedkar’s call for cultivating constitutional morality is highly relevant for promoting and strengthening multilateralism, bringing about effective reform and revitalisation of the principal organs of the UN and its institutions and making the UN fit for purpose to tackle contemporary challenges.  I look forward to hearing today’s speakers and deliberations on the subject.