At a time when socialism has emerged as a saviour to the suffering in a coronavirus-hit world, the Supreme Court’s landmark Kesavananda Bharati judgment holds a few lessons.

It was this judgment that led to the formulation of the basic structure doctrine for the Constitution, one that has been cited over and over again to settle multitudes of lawsuits having far reaching impact on our society and governance.

Led by then chief justice of India S.M. Sikri, the 13-judge constitution bench’s 7-6 verdict in the apex court’s longest trial at 68 days put much-needed curbs on a government’s unbridled majoritarianism, holding the Constitution of India above it, ruling that even the Parliament cannot tamper with the basic structure of the document, in particular Part Three concerning fundamental rights.

The seminal verdict included the concept of the welfare state in the ambit of that basic structure.   

Today a tribalist, populist government is invoking force majeure to escape accountability after single-handedly decimating the economy. Its stooges have filed a petition in court to remove the words “socialist” and “secular” from the Preamble.

Few are aware that Kesavananda (1973) validated the constitution amendments enacted by the then Indira Gandhi government to uphold the nationalisation of banks and abolition of privy purses.

The judgment also defined the extent to which Parliament could limit property rights, in order to redistribute large land holdings to cultivators.

Kesavananda Bharati, pontiff of Kasaragod’s Edneer Mutt, who, at 29, contested in court the Kerala government’s move, under two state land reform acts, to take partial control of his temple property, is no more.

But the eponymous judgment that bears his name is a legacy critical to India’s functioning as a parliamentary democracy.