#MadhavKhosla is a political theorist, a legal scholar and a professor at Ashoka University, Columbia and Harvard Society of Fellows. He has released two books about India's constitution, the latest of which, called "India's Founding Moment: The #Constitution of a Most Surprising Democracy", is set to release on February the 4th.

In conversation with #MadhuTrehan of Newslaundry, Madhav talks about the constitutional validity of the ongoing protests, secularism and calls for a uniform civil code.

On the note of the ongoing Citizenship Amendment protests, Madhav emphatically states that the proposed actions are entirely unconstitutional. "One level is that they are distinguishing between citizens on religion," he says, "and the second level is that it violates a commitment to secularism."

Speaking to the lack of leadership in the protest movements, he says the spontaneity has its pros and cons. "The positive is that its erupting everywhere, the negative is, in the long run, whether it will actually be channelized well."

Madhu pressed Madhav on what he thinks about all the concessions made for Indian Muslims and the people of Kashmir. "They've come back to bite us.", he says, "One of the ironies of Indian histories is that at the time Nehru and Ambedkar wanted a uniform civil code. Today who wants it? Why have liberals given up on the Uniform civil code?" He continues, "Part of the problem is that we allowed those concessions in the first place."


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