The Governor of Tamil Nadu R.N. Ravi on Tuesday appealed to youth, especially students of law, to take Constitution outside the confines of institutions and to the masses across India.

“Constitution is the crystallisation of dreams of millions of people – freedom fighters, martyrs who laid down their lives to realise the aspirations of India, and it needs to be celebrated,” Ravi said, while speaking at the Symposium on National Law Day organised by Saveetha School of Law.

The Constitution reflects the ideals and dreams to ensure that every citizen got social, economic, and political justice, with a right to dignified life. The Constitution, he said, also gave the direction to achieve goals of founding fathers of this great nation. Now that it has been 76 years since independence, it was now time to take a pause and recall if the ideals of social justice was taken all across the country.

Pointing out even in a progressive State like Tamil Nadu, where there were incidents of human waste being discharged into a drinking water tank, and untouchability, the Governor said that social justice could not be ensured through implementation of law alone, and that it had come from within every individual, and youth had to be at the forefront of this great cause.

He said that India, which was among the wealthiest nations, had also at the same time suffered a lot due to centuries of colonisation and foreign invasions. However, Indians continued to fight together as one and this was an important reason for India’s ‘Unity in Diversity.’

Indians had to learn live in harmony with everyone around them, but there are deliberate attempts to sabotage this harmony through propaganda. Linguistic chauvinism, regional and religious discord were being fanned by vested interests and this had to be thwarted time and again, Ravi said. He pointed out that trust was the core of Constitutional Institutions and attempts were made to tarnish the image of such institutions. After losing in elections, parties blamed electronic voting machines to undermine the democratic process and unleased a war of words on many such Constitutional Institutions.

Ravi, along with Dr. N.M. Veeraiyan, Chancellor, SIMATS – Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, also handed over prizes to students who had won in events held as part of National Law Day. Ravi lauded Dr. Veeraiyan, Saveetha School of Law, and the management for organising an important event on the occasion. In his address, Dr. Veeraiyan, recalled the contributions of the founding fathers of the Constitution that reflected the aspirations of the people for a happy, prosperous India that would benefit future generations.

Justice K.Kannan, former Judge, High Court of Punjab and Haryana, spoke in length about fundamental duties and rights, and how important it was for all people to work towards equality, protect the interests of people of all sections, and to protect the Constitution in letter and spirit. Prof. Dr. S. Suresh Kumar, Vice Chancellor, SIMATS, welcomed the gathering. Prof. Asha Sundaram, Principal, Saveetha School of Law, thanked the audience. Law students Bhavana Anandan and Sriram, delivered lectures on fundamental rights and duties, and constitutional morality.