After the bench had heard the case regarding the unique identity project for several hours, one of the judges interrupted to ask what Aadhaar means. The answer - that it means foundation or structure - was given almost in chorus by the battery of lawyers present. Since defence advocate Shyam Divan was questioning the constitutional validity of the project, Justice Bobde joked that if this current Aadhaar goes, there will have to be a new aadhaar. To everyone's surprise, it was the Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran who was quick to counter by saying the country would become "nir-aadhaar". That literally means "without foundation", a term that has so many implications in the current political dispensation that the proceedings immediately resumed without comment.
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