Integrity of Constitution has to be preserved against hasty changes: Parekh

Mortgage lender HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh on Thursday said integrity of the Constitution has to be preserved against any ill-conceived changes and asserted that fundamental rights cannot be curtailed or abrogated.

Parekh made the remarks while reading out his vote of thanks at the Nani Palkhivala's Memorial Lecture here and said that he finds a few of Palkhivala's thoughts written over 50 years ago "starkly relevant" to the present time.

The remarks from the veteran businessman come amid protests against the passage of amendments to the Citizenship Act, which critics say is against the basic principles of the Constitution.

"The great makers of our Constitution clearly intended that the integrity of the Constitution should be preserved against any hasty or ill-conceived changes," Parekh said.

In the remarks, which also come six months after the controversial changes to the status of Jammu and Kashmir through abrogation of the provisions of the Article 370, Parekh said fundamental rights of people need to be protected.

"(with) the growing powers of the government all over the world, it is eminently desirable for any democracy to have fundamental rights which cannot be curtailed or abrogated," he said.

Parekh said a towering personality's values, beliefs and righteousness leave an indelible mark on history and hinted that the same has been Palkhivala's contribution to us.

It can be noted that civil liberties and free markerts were very dear to the late Palkhivala and he is credited for leading the legal effort which resulted in a landmark Supreme Court judgement making it impossible for Parliament to change the basic structure of the Constitution through legislative amendments.