Law & Justice

Justice Bhuyan Urges ‘We’ Mentality to Counter Authoritarianism

By Dhananjay Mahapatra

At a convocation ceremony of the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya, Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan warned that authoritarianism emerges when society fears questioning. He urged citizens to abandon the binary of ‘us’ and ‘they’ and embrace the constitutional principle of ‘we’ to safeguard India’s unity in diversity. Speaking on the importance of a scientific temperament, Bhuyan cited Article 51A, which obliges every citizen to develop a reason‑based mindset that encourages inquiry, examination and reform. He argued that a society that accepts claims without evidence is vulnerable to superstition and misinformation, and that arbitrary power thrives on ignorance and fear.

Bhuyan emphasized the role of debate, noting that those who ask questions must also be willing to listen to alternative viewpoints. He said that meaningful debate can only occur when people have access to information. Drawing on Amartya Sen’s *The Idea of Justice*, he distinguished between institutional and functional democracy, asserting that the latter requires public scrutiny and reasoning as part of the democratic process.

He also stressed that preserving diversity requires rejecting false narratives and the ‘us‑vs‑them’ divide. Bhuyan pointed to the Constitution’s preamble, which begins with ‘We, the People of India’, to illustrate that ‘we’ represents a collective belonging that does not erase individual or group identities. He concluded that diversity enriches the constitutional project rather than hindering it, and that individual identities need not be subsumed by a larger whole.

The judge’s remarks came amid opposition criticism of the NDA government’s authoritarian tendencies.