Every child must go to school, this is not an option that the government may permit or merely support, but an obligation it must fulfill. If you could have sued your state government for not fulfilling this obligation in the 1960s, a few million more Indians might be literate today, there may well have been several million fewer of us, and the goal of economic opportunity to all might be more real. Instead, without the threat of being held to account for failing to meet this obligation, every successive government has paid lip service to this basic need, with shocks felt everywhere in society. And so it is with other aspects of our lives. Every working person must make a living wage.
Every citizen is entitled to equal justice under a uniform set of laws.
Every person performing a certain job is entitled to equal pay without discrimination. I didn't dream these up in a fit of political scheming. Fifty-two years ago, the framers of the Constitution found these notions to be sufficiently exalted that they directed the state to function in pursuit of them, permitting only that a finite and small period of time may be necessary to give them the force of law. Honest respect for the Constitution demands that its ideals be enshrined in the laws of the land. Republic Day must be more than the might of our armed forces on display, and more than a fleeting celebration of diversity in our culture.