THE 14th national conference of the All India Lawyers Union (AILU) took place at Ashok Bakshi Manch (Sarat Sadan) in Naranarayan Gooptu Nagar (Howrah), West Bengal, from  December 28-30, 2023. The conference centered around the theme "Fight communalism, save constitution, and save democracy."

On the morning of the 28th, Rabilal Moitra, vice president of AILU and former law minister of West Bengal, hoisted the flag, marking the commencement of the conference proceedings. The inaugural session, an open session, began with Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly, former judge of the Supreme Court of India and chairman of the reception committee, extending a warm welcome to guests, participants, and delegates. He emphasized the significance of the conference theme in light of the current challenges faced by the nation.

The conference was inaugurated by Justice Deepak Gupta, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. In his inaugural address, Justice Deepak Gupta emphasized the duty and responsibility of lawyers, law teachers, law students, and the entire legal fraternity, including judges, to reaffirm and safeguard the core values and ethos of the constitution. He highlighted the importance of upholding principles such as fraternity, secularism, parliamentary democracy, federalism, liberty, and freedom of expression in the present context.

AILU general secretary P V Surendranath, a senior advocate, presented the work and organisation report covering the period after the 13th national conference that concluded on December 29, 2019. The report highlighted the current international and national situations with significant implications for Indian polity and democracy. It was elucidated in detail that the right reactionary regime at the centre, led by the RSS, has been aggressively pursuing neo-liberal reforms and implementing its Hindutva communal agenda. The aim is to transform India into a theocratic Hindutva rashtra by intensifying communal and religious polarisation, undermining secularism, and assaulting democracy.

The report outlined a consistent and systematic onslaught on the constitution's basic structure, including parliamentary democracy, federalism, independence of the judiciary, and people's fundamental freedom and right to dissent. The most aggressive imperialist intervention, as seen in West Asia, is the Zionist intervention and genocide in Palestine by Israel, with full support from the USA. This is a severe violation of human rights and international law. India's unconditional alliance with Israel, supporting its invasion and genocidal war against Gaza/Palestine, reflects the present regime's stance on human rights, fraternity, and international law. The report noted the shift in India's policy towards Palestine, aligning with the USA and Israel, amidst their fight for country, nationhood, and against invasion, illegal occupation, and oppression by Israel.

Given the systematic onslaught on the constitution's values, ethos, and basic structure, and the subtle operation against parliamentary democracy and fundamental pillars of the nation, the organisation bears a heavy social responsibility to fight communalism and safeguard the constitution and democracy. It emphasized the duty to mobilise people from all sections of society, including lawyers, law teachers, law students, jurists, academics, intellectuals, and the general public. The report stressed that lawyers, law teachers, and law students alone cannot preserve the constitution and democracy; the organisation must reach out to all sections of society. To achieve this, the report emphasized strengthening the organisation through increased membership and organisational cohesion, steering clear of any sectarian approach.

On the evening of the 28th, a seminar session took place featuring a speech by Justice Dr S Muralidhar, former chief justice of the Orissa High Court, on the topic of "Judiciary and Democracy." During his address, he navigated the judicial history of India, with a particular focus on key judgments such as Indira Gandhi vs Raj Narain, which led to the proclamation of emergency, and ADM Jabalpur, where the judiciary witnessed a notable capitulation. Justice Muralidhar vividly explained how the varying approaches of the Supreme Court and its judgments have had both positive and negative impacts on democracy in India. With illustrative examples, he underscored that when the executive was weak, as seen in coalition governments, the judiciary demonstrated extreme activism in holding the executive accountable. Conversely, when the executive was strong with a brute majority in parliament, the judiciary silently withdrew from its activism, as evidenced in judgments and the approach of the Supreme Court over the last decade. Drawing parallels from the German Supreme Court, he illustrated how democratic means can be employed to undermine democracy, leading to authoritarianism and fascism. In Germany, when such a shift occurred, the Supreme Court did not intervene to save democracy; instead, Hitler garnered the support of the judiciary. The only remedy, he emphasized, is to stay alert and vigilant to developments constantly.

In the seminar session on the evening of the 29th, the keynote address was delivered by the eminent journalist R Rajagopal, editor-at-large of The Telegraph. He spoke on the topic of "Surveillance and Freedom of the Press," providing a detailed narrative on how India has established a silent surveillance architecture that curtails and stifles freedom of the press and the right to privacy, consequently impacting democracy.

A total of 609 delegates and observers from 26 states across India, including Manipur, participated in the conference, with 102 of them being women delegates. Thorough discussions were held on the work and organisation report presented by the general secretary, with 80 delegates participating in the debate, including 20 women delegates. Student delegates were also actively involved, contributing positive suggestions through self-criticism and criticism while accepting the report.

Following the general secretary's response, the report was unanimously passed, accompanied by a call to achieve a breakthrough in membership across India by the next conference. The objective is to strengthen the organisation sufficiently to effectively combat communalism and safeguard the constitution and democracy. The detailed future tasks and activities outlined in the report were accepted, with a focus on making the organisation a broad platform for lawyers, law teachers, and law students representing the vast majority of legal professionals.

The future tasks include a campaign against the onslaught of Hindutva communalism on secularism, democracy, and the constitution, under the theme "Fight communalism, save constitution, save democracy." Other tasks involve continuing the campaign for the independence and accountability of the judiciary, emphasizing the violation of judicial independence from both within and without; formation of an independent National Judicial Commission with constitutional status, contrasting with the NJAC proposed by the Modi regime, and strengthening the collegium system by enhancing transparency and accountability till the formation of independent National Judicial Commission; to combat the right reactionary project of RSS and Adhivakta Parishad in the legal and judicial fronts, and counter the narrative that our constitution, parliamentary democracy, and judiciary— the entire legal and justice dispensation system—is colonial, and to oppose the campaign suggesting that "Bharat" is the mother of democracy and has an ancient, advanced judicial system, advocating a return to a supposed "golden era" of Manuvada.

The conference adopted 20 resolutions, which included condemnation of Israel for its genocidal war on Palestine and a demand for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine. It also condemned the genocidal violence in Manipur, implicating the role of both union and state governments; denounced the misuse/abuse of central investigation agencies by the union regime for political purposes; opposed the entry of foreign lawyers in India; advocated for the decentralisation and democratisation of the judiciary; voiced opposition to the proposed imposition of a uniform civil code; and decried the onslaught on federalism, among other issues. The conference also expressed its disapproval of the introduction of new draconian, oppressive, and unconstitutional criminal laws to substitute the IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act. It also called for the introduction of stipends for junior lawyers and uniform welfare measures for advocates by the Bar Council of India.

The conference unanimously elected a new national council, national executive, and 35 office bearers. Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, a member of the Rajya Sabha, was re-elected as the president. Advocate Sunkara Rajendra Prasad was elected as the working president, while senior advocate P V Surendranath is re-elected  as general secretary, and Anil K Chauhan was re-elected as treasurer.

After concluding the conference on December 30, 2023, a public meeting took place. Eminent journalist-activist P Sainath was the keynote speaker, addressing the topic "Democracy and Media." In his comprehensive speech, he shed light on the role of media in democracy and the challenges it faces under the present regime. Sainath delved into various aspects related to media and surveillance, both direct and indirect, as well as the criminalisation of dissent. He emphasized the abuse and misuse of different statutes to enable surveillance and to intimidate, threaten, and subjugate media and media persons by the current regime. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, P V Surendranath, and Arindam Bhattacharya also delivered speeches during the meeting. The meeting was presided over by Rabilal Moitra, president of AILU West Bengal state committee.