Rescuing Insurgent Possibilities of Indian Constitutionalism

In the first episode of Varta, a podcast by the Kautilya Society at NLSIU and the Law School Policy Review, Prannv Dhawan speaks with eminent constitutional scholar and sociologist, Prof. (Dr.) Kalpana Kannabiran. She’s a professor and director at the Council for Social Development in Hyderabad, Telangana. She’s the author of ‘Tools of Justice: Non-discrimination and the Indian Constitution’, where she explained the concept of ‘insurgent constitutionalism’ and has done an interesting interdisciplinary study on issues of constitutional justice in India.

Whilst insurgent constitutionalism sounds like an oxymoron given the contradictory nature of revolutionary and constitutional methods, this idea has great resonance in the Indian context. This is because Indian constitutionalism represents the culmination of various radically transformative ideas, which have been propagated within and beyond courts, parliament and civil society by various social movements and constitutionally aware citizens. With this short and comprehensive discussion, the episode evaluates the unconstitutional resonance associated with insurgent possibilities and to find whether they can rescued from the present moment.

Listen to the podcast and find a transcript of it here.