Some thoughts on disagreements

My dear students

Over the years I have suffered through so many chief guest lectures as a student that I promised myself that should I be fortunate enough to deliver one, I will try to be brief, and in addition, avoid all kinds of banalities. I will not ask you to work hard or to persevere in your efforts. I am sorely tempted to say that all of you must seize the opportunities you will get in law school but my promise binds me and I will not say any such thing.

In fact I am going to avoid giving you any hoary exhortations altogether and instead focus on two issues that I believe all future lawyers in India ought to be concerned about. One of these is an issue people of my generation were not really bothered with, but which is now of such seminal importance that ignoring it will imperil not just the way we study and work but the way in which we relate to reach other. The second issue is a perennial problem with Indian lawyers after independence and contrary to what I just said before I will do just a tiny bit of exhortation when I get to this issue.?

Let me begin with the first, more cutting edge problem. Today we face a peculiar problem of a discussion paralysis in the world. We are hyper aware of current events, statements, and?controversies, and at the same time utterly confused about how to manage disagreements on practical issues. We don’t have to go to debates on climate change for a taste of this phenomenon; even on the most mundane matters, such as the requirements of courtesy in our communities, we have difficulty in agreeing on what is the right thing to do. The post truth world has answered this paradox by dissolving it. People no longer act as if disagreements on the right course of action are a problem. It’s just one more feature of the world we can live with by ignoring it. The search for truth is merely a diverting phenomenon that ought to be ignored.?

In some ways this indifference towards other people’s opinions is a natural attribute of a heterogenous world where differences in terms of religious outlooks, moral values, attitudes and interests are no longer something to be suppressed but to be celebrated. But celebrating differences does not mean ignoring or not engaging with those who have views that are different from your own. Social media and television have amplified these differences into a situation where the differences threaten the very fabric of our engagements with each other. Ultimately there won’t be a meaningful public discussion in our society on the pivotal issues of the day.?

It was not always so. The great lawyers of the previous generation, Nehru, Vallabhai Patel, Gandhi and Ambedkar disagreed vigorously with each other, but they made their positions plain and actually listened to one another. Their arguments were made in public and the issues they discussed were sharpened and finessed in open light. Everyone, including the losers in the debates, were the richer for it.????

Lawyers are especially suited to addressing disagreements and seeking common ground. You will learn to analyse different viewpoints and come to a resolution in each of your courses. The world needs your skills for the world has forgotten how to disagree. People just shout across the pulpit. You must stop this toxic discourse before it poisons the basis of our engagement with each other.?

This brings me to my second point. What we lack today is leadership on public opinions. I hope I am not asking too much of you when I say that I want you to lead the development of public opinion on the major debates of the day. Some people might tell you that law is only involved peripherally in most public debates. Why should lawyers play a role in city garbage disposals or raising of taxes or mobilisation of nuclear power? You must tell these people that in the public sphere every question is also a constitutional question, a question of equal access and opportunity, and a question of due process. Where there is a constitutional question, lawyers should lead the debates. As lawyers, you can harness a combination of moral and political principles and state positions clearly, precisely and accurately. Your law school courses and assessments are designed precisely towards thus purpose. This is a tremendously important skill that is extraordinarily hard to develop. I don’t have a hang of it yet, and I have a feeling many of you in this room will also struggle with it. But the struggle is a joy in itself, provided you don’t take the whole thing too seriously. You must learn how to articulate your thoughts verbally and in writing, but no one said you can’t have any fun while doing it.

I will honour my promise and conclude here. Best wishes for your law school career!

Prof Nigam Nuggehalli?

Registrar?

NLSIU?

Bangalore?