Early 2005 was a time of joyous celebration in the Congress Party. They had just upset the BJP led NDA at the polls. Their allies had pulled off spectacular wins in their states. Sonia Gandhi was in full control of the party and government.

However, one critical problem loomed that needed urgent fixing. Strategic thinkers of the establishment realized that the principal canon of the “Idea of India” was damaged beyond recognition under BJP’s rule: the idea to have outright communal discrimination in the domain of education.

Judicial Blows To The Idea Of India

As the private education industry started booming in the country, various state governments resorted to biting off a part of the private capacity and using that to advance its social objectives. This ran into the minority issue as well as issues related to fees and cross subsidies. A number of these questions accumulated and the need to settle this once and for all was felt by everyone. The opportunity presented itself in a case called TMA Pai Society vs Union of India.

Eleven judges of the Supreme Court, the second largest bench after the 1973 Kesavanada Bharati’ thirteen judges bench, would hear the education and minority issues and settle the issues once and for all. The hope was that this large bench would not be encumbered by the earlier nine judge bench’s views in St Xaviers v Gujarat case. The 11-judge bench delivered its verdict in 2002. The split was roughly seven-four on a number of questions, but even the four dissenting judges agreed on a number of the framed questions. The most ‘shocking’ part of the judgment was the following: