On one of the rarest occasions in the history of independent India, a soon-to-be chief justice has been flaked for his views. Justice DY Chandrachud is being heavily criticised for his birth-based obvious upper-caste privilege, a concept which he himself seems to be promoting in the Indian public domain.
DY Chandrachud criticizes the concept of merit:
On 7th December 2021, Justice Chandrachud delivered the 13th B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture on “Conceptualising Marginalisation: Agency, Assertion, and Personhood”. The lecture which otherwise draws the attention of only constitutional experts and lawyers got huge coverage for the honourable Judge’s breakdown of the concept of merit and privilege.
In his speech, Shri Chandrachud opined that the concept of merit, as we understand is exclusionary and narrow in nature. According to the future Chief Justice of India, merit allows people from upper caste citizens to mask their obvious caste privilege. Shri DY Chandrachud, son of former chief justice Y.V Chandrachud also asserted that upper caste individuals relegate the achievements of Dalits and other reserved classes by calling them a consequence of caste-based reservation.
To substantiate his arguments, Chandrachud cited several sources like the book “Tyranny of Merit” written by renowned jurist Michael J Sandel and the honourable Supreme Court’s reconstruction of the definition of merit in B.K. Pavitra v. Union of India case. He also proposed that in the Indian context, castelessness is a privilege available to only upper caste people and people from lower caste have to retain their caste identity to claim the benefits offered to them through reservations.
Netizens flak future chief justice for allegedly multiple discrepancies in arguments:
As soon as respected judge’s opinions about caste privilege and merit started to circulate on Internet, people started to dig into the issue. Some people were busy searching for the concept of merit while some were interested in knowing whether Chandrachud himself follows the idea he promotes or not.
One Sanjeev Newar, an IIT and IIM alumni asked the law fraternity and especially the judiciary to dissolve the collegium system and put in place a transparent merit-based system for selection, promotion, transfers.
Why doesn't judiciary dissolve collegium system and have merit as ONLY criteria for selection, promotion, transfers – as decided by a transparent public body? https://t.co/kgH8Y1RnQO
— Sanjeev Newar | सञ्जीव नेवर (@SanjeevSanskrit) December 7, 2021
TheSkinDoctor, a popular Twitter handle with nearly half a million followers went deep into the past of the aforementioned judge. Revealing to the public that the judge who himself is attacking the upper caste for their ‘obvious upper-caste privilege’ is himself a Brahmin, an upper caste. He asked for his resignation by claiming that according to Chandrachud’s own concept, he became a judge through privilege hierarchy. The famous Twitter handle also seemed to suggest that Chandrachud is a hypocrite who only believes in imparting knowledge to others and not following it himself.
Most highly honorable Justice Chandrachud, more honorable, is a Brahmin. He should resign from his post by saying he achieved it through caste privilege. But he won't. He would go on to become the CJI because this socialist rhetorical gyan is always meant for others, not self.
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) December 7, 2021
Another Twitter user @Bingoesbang said that politicians who garnered votes in the name of uplifting underprivileged failed in their job. Thus, to save their own face, they punished a meritorious population through a populist reservation policy.
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This is absolute tribalism. Politicians failed to upgrade on-ground infrastructure to uplift the erstwhile underprivileged. To mask it, they doubled down on killing merit through reservation. https://t.co/09G2xfoDaq
— ABHISHEK KUMAR (@bingaspeaks) December 8, 2021
A brief analysis of ‘obvious upper-caste privilege’ doctrine:
Since the honourable judge’s opinion has been under controversy, it merits some kind of in-depth analysis.
DY Chandrachud meant that merit is not absolute, and it depends on person to person. Simply put, according to Chandrachud’s privilege doctrine, two persons of the same age sitting on the same post and will be judged differently based on their family background. A person from a poor background will be considered more meritorious as he has struggled harder in his life.
The doctrine largely holds true for the pre-internet era, things take a massive turn when the Internet is included among multi-dimensional variables affecting an individual life. Internet is virtually free and even a person earning Rs 10,000 per month is carrying a smartphone that in-houses vast swathe of knowledge directly streaming from institutions like IITs and IVY league universities. Children of today no longer need to enrol themselves in expensive private schools with 8-hour long schedules. Even the language barrier can be eliminated through free learning classes on YouTube. Caste is hardly a criterion for multinational corporations looking to hire an individual.
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On the face of it, the ‘obvious upper-caste privilege’ doctrine helps continue the legacy of reservation. However, it is creating another oppressed class composed of former upper castes, who will be demanding more reservations for themselves in future. This has the potential to create a loop of oppressor-oppressed division in society, something which democracy was supposed to dispense with. People of the country are waiting for respectable jurists to present their views on how they will strike a balance between competency and exclusion.
Reservations are initially meant for only 10 years period but unfortunately it’s been made it eternal that puts the General class people at great disadvantage and on top of that stupid people like him meaninglessly keep barking about non-existent upper-caste privilege, a concept coined by the so called people who are enjoying all the country resources in the name of Reservations.
Make sure this biased rotten man never becomes the chief justice of the Judiciary, a branch which has
No Accountability and Not answerable to the needs of citizens in a Democracy. Enough is enough with Reservation system and completely remove any Caste identification concept from the constitution, education and jobs. All must be merit based.
The day people like him becomes CJI, it will be death of justice.
What Justice chandrachud says may be correct but this reservation policy doesn’t seem to have exit gate. Once underprivileged, you remain so for generations. Individuals will have to exit the privilege someday. This policy of indefinite reservation should be questioned and justice chandrachud should answer this.