‘Citizens of all religions, ethnicity proud Indians’

The Chief Justice of India, Jagdish Singh Khehar, at an Independence Day function at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, asserted that every citizen of India is equal and whatever be the religion or ethnicity, should be proud of being an Indian.

“Whether it is Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Muslims or Jains, everybody should be proud of his own religion to be an Indian. Everybody should be proud of his own ethnicity. Proud of being an Indian and that is what the Constitution is all about,” he said.

The event became a nostalgic affair for CJI Khehar, as he reminisced about how his great grandfather was forced to shift to Kenya to avoid being arrested in Lahore for his suspected role in fomenting a student uprising against the British rule. “The CJI was not a citizen of this country to start with. But when he became the citizen of this country, he was equal to everybody else and had equal opportunities. This is what citizenship or Independence of this great country means,” he said.

The CJI’s statement assumes significance coming as it is within days of previous Vice President Hamid Ansari’s assertion that Muslims were feeling insecure in the country.

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