Renowned constitutional expert, lawyer, and political analyst Abdul Ghafoor Noorani passed away on the afternoon of 29th August 2024 at his residence in Mumbai. He was laid to rest after Isha prayers. Although he had been unwell for the past few years, journalists close to him reported that he had been working tirelessly on a book on the Supreme Court judgement on Babri Masjid (2019). Up to a couple of years ago, he would regularly write columns in Frontline and Dawn, but had decided to focus his energies on these pending works.
Activists, academics, journalists and intellectuals from different fields have mourned this loss. His column “Constitutional Questions” in the former ran for more than three decades. As the former Editor of Frontline, R Vijaya Sankar wrote on social media, he had spoken to him for almost twenty years, every fortnight, in order to finalise his upcoming article. Known to his friends as Ghafoorbhai, he wrote extensively – on all-important topics such as the Babri demolition, the history and politics of the Kashmir question, the politics of the far-right, on constitutional questions in India, and a volume on political trials in Indian history. The former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu called him a “journalist’s journalist.”
Taking to X, MP Asaduddin Owaisi wrote, “AG Noorani, a giant among scholars has passed away. I learnt a great deal from him, from the Constitution to Kashmir, to China & even the art of appreciating good food. May Allah grant him maghfirah.” As the tributes pour in, it is important to remember that Noorani represented a dying breed both in Indian journalism and law – someone who spoke truth, even if it was uncomfortable or unpalatable to those in power, and yet, did so in eminently readable and comprehensible terms. No study of the Babri Masjid title suit and later, the demolition, is complete without referring to his magnum opus, the two-part volume that put together archives as well as his own analyses of the issue; similarly, his meticulous collection of data, sources and archival material for any work he set out to do set very high standards for other scholars to follow.
For more than half a century, he wrote extensively. Unearthing archival data, his work also led to the debunking of various myths spread by the right-wing, such as Article 370: A Constitutional History J&K (Oxford University Press, 2011), which revealed that even Jana Sangh founders like Syama Prasad Mukherjee had initially accepted Article 370. Similarly, in his works on Babri Masjid, he precisely lays out the entire process behind the scenes at the top most political power echelons, eventually leading to its demolition. His follow-up work to his previous volume, Destruction of the Babri Masjid — A National Dishonour (Tulika Books, 2003) also was immensely useful for all future scholars of the Constitutional and judicial history of the issue, for its analysis of the Liberhan Committee report, the Allahabad High Court judgement on the civil suits in 2010, and the demolition case, where the accused eventually went scot-free. It also held responsible several so-called secular governments at the state and the centre levels for their hand in the eventual demolition; and highlighted the complicity of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.
Noorani’s life and death – and how widely he has been remembered in civil society – proves that being a relentless defender of justice and the Constitution will always be remembered the most by the marginalised and those who seek to challenge the structures of power and exclusion. Unlike many others in his profession who would have sought high positions or rewards in the later years of life, he never did, and it will be his readers and those whose academic journeys are indebted to his decades of work who will truly celebrate him and mourn his passing.
