Eminent jurist Senior Advocate Fali S Nariman passed on the morning of 21st February. He was also the President of the Bar Association of India from 1991 to 2010 as well as the Additional Solicitor General of India from May 1972 to June 1975. Despite all of his accomplishments and a glorious career, he was unable to shake the hypocrisy that accompanies being a left-liberal. He in an interview in 2017, questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the appointment of a Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh was “the beginning of a Hindu state.”
In the interview taken by Shekhar Gupta, Nariman had said it is a little odd that a head priest is a chief minister. He made the statement after Shekhar Gupta asked, which constitutional rights are facing most threat according to him. To this, Fali S Nariman replied that the entire constitution was under threat due to massive electoral victory of BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He said, “You see the constitution is under threat, let me be very frank. With the massive electoral victory in Uttar Pradesh, with the priest installed at the instance of the prime minister as the chief minister, with the cherry on the victory cake. So, that is a signal, and if you can’t see it, then you must be either the spokesman of the political party, or you must have your head and eyes examined”.
Notably, Yogi Adityanath became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in March 2017 following a landslide victory of BJP in the assembly elections. The interview was taken a few months after that.
'The govt should be asked if we are heading towards a Hindu state. A head priest being CM is a little odd' — Watch what jurist Fali Nariman told Editor-in-Chief @ShekharGupta at ThePrint #OTC in March 2017https://t.co/CZGUjERGhA pic.twitter.com/E2AwaZe2OE
— ThePrintIndia (@ThePrintIndia) February 21, 2024
Nariman said that while the BJP was entitled to choose a Hindu priest as a CM, the message was clear. When Shekhar Gupta asked if people were complacent and were not alarmed by the development, Nariman said that people were being hypocritical, not complacent. He said that people will worry what PM Modi thinks if he knows that they are criticising his decisions.
After this, Shekhar Gupta had asked, ‘Does the constitution have the strength to withstand such a statement of majority if not majoritarianism’. To this, Narimana said, “This is the problem, constitution has the strength, but the people who support the constitution don’t.” He then asked why no MPs or no journalists were asking the prime minister, whether it is true that this is the beginning of a Hindu state.
He then added, ‘Its the Hindu majority that gave us this constitution, 85% members of the constituent assembly, 233 out of 299 or such figure, were orthodox Hindus. Rejendra Prasad was the most orthodox of all, and they gave us this magnificent constitution.’
He continued, “One should be forthright in views, including political views, ask the prime minister, is this true what these people are now pretending to say. Is there going to be a Hindu state? Please tell us, we must know. Is there going to be an amendment of the constitution? There’s going to be some problem which the judiciary may have to face etc etc etc.
He said that no member of the parliament has asked this question when the parliament is in session.
Shekhar Gupta said that the question of Yogi becoming CM is asked in public debates, and the party replies that when he can be a 5-time MP, why he can’t be a CM. To this, Fariman replied that let Modi answer that, nobody stops him, but he is asking a different question. “But it is a little odd that he is also be a head priest, little odd”.
However, he conveniently overlooked the fact that his son Rohinton Nariman, a seasoned lawyer who was elevated to the position of a Supreme Court judge later in his career, was also a Parsi priest. Justice Nariman who retired from the apex court in 2021, is skilled in conducting Navjote ceremonies, which mark the initiation of a Zoroastrian child. He is also permitted to enter the sanctum sanctorum, or innermost chamber, just like any other priest in his society.
In his book, Fali S. Nariman stated that his family was “priestly” and hence his spouse ensured that their son was ordained as a priest at the tender age of twelve. The late attorney added that his son had officiated his sister Anaheeta’s Navjote ceremony in Mumbai. Rohinton Nariman in an interview in 2021 said, “My stint as a priest, as a 12-year-old has moulded my life to a very considerable amount.”
He referred to his stay at the Agiary (Fire temple) for 28 days with only minimum facilities as the “greatest experience of his life.” He added, “Priesthood gave me discipline and chiselling of memory.” He narrated how his father had brought him to visit another legal giant, the late Jamshedji Behramji Kanga who was almost on his deathbed. “The moment my father told him he had made me a priest the old man’s eyes lit up and he beckoned me, caught me by the hand and asked how many chapters did u recite by rote.” When Justice Nariman informed him that he had done around 50 chapters, he replied, “You recited 13 chapters more than me and you have to be 13 times better than me. Kanga died two months later.”
Interestingly, Fali S Nariman who encouraged his son to become a priest and was friends with accomplished individuals who had previously held the position, exhibited a strong aversion towards PM Modi’s choice of a Hindu priest to be Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister. “The Prime Minister may deny it but that is my assumption that appointing a particular person as the chief minister is in itself an indication that he wishes to propagate a religious state,” he claimed while talking to NDTV in 2017.
He even brought up “Hindu Rashtra” which has become the Sine Qua Non of the left-liberal ecosystem’s outrage whenever something related to Hinduism comes to the fore. He bemoaned, “Is this the beginning of a Hindu state, the Prime Minister must be asked so that the people know what they should be prepared for. The Constitution is under threat. With the massive electoral victory in UP, a priest has been installed as the chief minister at the insistence of the Prime Minister is a signal and if you cannot see then either you are the spokesperson of political parties or you must have your head or eyes examined.”
However, he made a half-hearted attempt to make up for his allegations in the end by stating, “You must give it to the Prime Minister. He is quite forthright. He does not mince words and his energy is something remarkable and fantastic. I have never seen such a man. But I do not accept all the policies of the Prime Minister.”
Whether it was because he was an exceptional counsel or he was a left-liberal or even both, Fali S. Nariman unabashedly applied different yardsticks for different people. When his son was concerned, he didn’t feel that a person’s profession and faith had to be mutually exclusive. However, he was unwilling to apply the same convictions to Yogi Adityanath and considered it as an attack on India’s secular ideals.
His son acknowledged that the priesthood aided him to do better in life including his work, however, Fali S. Nariman deemed the priesthood of a Hindu as a burden and threat to the social fabric of the country. To put it in simpler terms, ‘What’s good for the goose was definitely not good for the gander,’ for the late learned lawyer.