Feroza Sanjana 
On the February 4, every year, floral tributes are paid to M.A. Ayyangar at the Lok Sabha. This year marks his 134th birth anniversary, which continues to be attended in strong numbers by several parliamentarians – regardless of which party they belong to.
Ayyangar was a statesman, a vocal parliamentarian and my great grandfather.
Before India’s independence, he was a freedom fighter, along with Mahatma Gandhi and others at the forefront of the independence movement. At the helm of India’s birth as a secular, democratic republic, he spent much of his life cementing democratic institutions in a fledgling new nation.
Born in 1891 in Tiruchanur in Andhra Pradesh (in the erstwhile Madras Presidency), he went on to train as a lawyer. Pushed into political life by his mentor, his journey saw him being appointed the speaker of the Lok Sabha in 1962, and later, the governor of Bihar. He, along with several others, served on the drafting committee of the new constitution of a newly independent India.
Ayyangar stood staunchly for democratic values, independence of the judiciary and freedom of speech – all crucial safeguards that protect the country from autocratic rule. As a member of the constituent assembly, he co-wrote the preamble of the constitution which laid out its founding values – sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic.
His life truly embodied this idea of India.
Despite being a firm democrat, he accepted his elder son’s communist-socialist ideology. In their home, diverse views were welcome and accepted – and they learned to respectfully disagree with one another.
Secularism and deep respect for all diversities, whether religion, caste, language or political leanings were values by which he lived. While studying Political Science and Law, my grandmother met and married my grandfather – a union between a Punjabi from the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of undivided India, and a Tamil Ayyangar from the Madras Presidency. This, at a time when inter-cultural marriages were still extremely rare. My mother- his granddaughter, went on to marry a Parsi, and I am the product of this amalgamation of religions, languages and regional specificities.
These diverse influences have woven in seamlessly together, and formed my own passion for a secular and democratic India, which has become a cornerstone of my own identity. Growing up, our families celebrated every festival, regardless of caste, creed or religion, and all were given equal respect.
Ayyangar was also a constitutionalist, strongly believing in the rule of law and the importance of the state to ensure rights of the most marginalised. He pushed for Harijan entry into temples and also led several efforts against untouchability in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, having the added mantle of being the president of Mahatma Gandhi’s Harijan Sevak Sangh.
Also read: Why Gandhi’s 1915 Kumbh Mela Reflections Matter in 2025
One might argue as to why we need to look into the past when independent India looks so different today from the India of over seventy-five years ago? How can Ayyangar’s thoughts and actions apply to the world of post-Mandal, post-coalition politics, when the rise of sweeping majoritarianism has captured Indians at home and a cheering diaspora abroad?
The answer is simple: if we do not preserve democracy and democratic institutions – the foundations upon which our country is built will erode.
My own research led me to the dusty tomes of the Lok Sabha parliamentary debates, which uncovered battles that were fought for the betterment of the people – and a caveat comes to mind. “Progress” or “Vikaas” is not linear and there is no one pre-determined pathway to it – if we forget our history, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
If we do not remember the struggles of people like Ayyangar, we might forget that many of these victories, especially democratic freedoms guaranteed to each and every citizen, have been hard won. Many countries with independence movements like India have seen democratic freedoms backslide soon after their independence, and many former colonies have had a highly tumultuous relationship with democratic freedoms. Not many countries in South and Southeast Asia have had a relatively uninterrupted spell of successive elected governments – so it is more important than ever to ensure that institutions like the Election Commission and judiciary remain independent and that civil liberties are not stifled.
But there is another reason to remember.
As an academic myself, I have taught students across India and Germany to focus on the’ theory of knowledge’ – as an act of active citizenship. To tell fact from fiction and to discover the provenance of information is all the more important now in a world of increasing fake news, AI-generated and WhatsApp driven misinformation.
Stalwarts such as Ayyangar were known to speak out loud and clear in favour of reason over ideology. He argued for the fundamental rights of arrested and detained persons, for the independence of the Supreme Court as ‘the watchdog of democracy’ and the regulation of appointment of the judges, their salaries and tenure of office – ‘so that the executive may have little or nothing to do with their functioning’ – in his own words. People both feared and respected his voice that was clear but pointed, sharp but a voice of reason with a sense of humor. Whether you agreed with him or not – his voice rang true as motivated by the good of the nation as a whole and its most vulnerable, and not driven by party whips or personal interests.
Ayyangar’s intense debating and oratory skills made him as much an exemplar for a statesman as he was an ardent supporter of freedom of speech. His manners revealed a strong belief in the parliamentary tradition of peaceful debate and exchange. There was no place in his vocabulary for derogatory terms for those who disagreed with him, quite unlike today where India is currently ranked a paltry 159 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.
Ayyangar’s struggle was precisely to think critically on the basis of logic and respect for the law. Keeping Ayyangar’s memory alive is then to remember the founding values of the idea of an India.
The idea of an India where every citizen’s political and economic freedoms are respected and protected. Where democratic institutions are not undermined and there is freedom to dissent peacefully without repercussion.
And that indeed is an idea worth fighting for.
Feroza Sanjana is a political analyst and academic. Previously, she has been an expert advisor on South Asian politics to the European Union. She was a Visiting Professor in Political Science at Freie University Berlin and a Doctoral Fellow at Stanford University, California.