Maturity of the Political Leadership

The same controversy that produced the basic structure doctrine also revealed something about India's political leadership. In the background of the fierce disagreement that raged between 1967 and 1973, Parliament and the Executive eventually recognised that a balanced, long-term view was necessary. After the Kesavananda ruling, some attempts were made to persuade the Court to reconsider its own decision; when these failed, the 42nd Amendment was passed, explicitly asserting parliamentary supremacy over the judiciary's basic-structure limit. But the Supreme Court held its ground, reaffirming the same position in the Minerva Mills case in 1980. Even four decades after Kesavananda, this ruling has continued to shape how the Constitution is interpreted — political parties, political leaders, the government and Parliament have all, in practice, accepted the idea of an inviolable basic structure. Even when there has been talk of a formal 'review' of the Constitution, as in 2000, that exercise did not cross the limits the basic structure doctrine had set. …