SOAS, University of London organised a conference on Sept 5th and 6th, 2025, at London as part of the Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation (PACT) project. The Conference had opening and closing keynotes by Prof Rochana Bajpai and Prof Richard Albert respectively, and hosted 20 panelists from UK, India and abroad, who presented their papers across three panels, a book talk, roundtable and a film screening.
The conference explored Indian constitution-making as a process of reaching pluralist agreement between contending actors and constitutional transformation over time. The theme Constitution-Making as an Ongoing Conversation guided two days of rigorous debate, comparative perspectives, and public engagement.
Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution-making
The conference opened with Professor Rochana Bajpai, who introduced the PACT Project, the organising team, and the guiding theme of Constitution-Making as an On-going Conversation. After opening and welcome remarks by Prof Rochana Bajpai the day kicked off with its first panel which featured the following papers:
- Professor Sudhir Krishnaswamy on “Deliberation in Indian Constitution-Making: Clarifying Ambedkar’s Role”,
- Vineeth Krishna on “Against the Constituent Assembly: M.N. Roy and B.R. Ambedkar on Constitution-Making.”
Comparative Threads: Spain, Poland, Hong Kong
We moved into comparative explorations, with José Miguel Núñez Dávila (Spain), Krzysztof J. Kaleta (Poland), and Sze Hong Lam (Hong Kong), chaired by Professor Christina Murray.
- ‘Amnesty in Spain. The interpretation of a constitutional silence’ – José Miguel Núñez Dávila (University of Seville).
- ‘Constitution-Making as Reflexive Conversation: In search of a new balance between constituent and constituted powers in Poland’ – Krzysztof J. Kaleta (University of Warsaw)
- ‘The making of an ‘internationalised’ constitution: Re-visiting the British influence behind the drafting of the Hong Kong’s Basic Law’ – Sze Hong Lam (Leiden University)
Manuscript Panel: Dr Udit Bhatia – Democracy’s Unfinished Business
This session spotlighted Dr Udit Bhatia’s manuscript Democracy’s Unfinished Business, with commentary from Elena Ziliotti, Loubna El Amine, and Vatsal Naresh.
Keynote: Professor Richard Albert on Decolonial Constitutionalism
The first day closed with a keynote lecture by Professor Richard Albert titled “Constitution Without Revolution: A Theory of Decolonial Constitutionalism.”
Caste, Gender, & Democratic Decline
The second day of the conference opened with panels on communal quotas, caste, gender, and concerns of democratic decline. Presenters included Dr Shireen Azam, Dr Alexander Hudson, Surbhi Karwa, Mathew Idiculla, and Asang Wankhede
Film and PACT Digital Platform
We screened the film Constitutional Pledges created by filmmaker Shaaz Ahmed. The film was followed with a discussion moderated by Dr Udit Bhatia. This film is available on our Youtube page:
Another film titled The Constitution and The People, also created by Shaaz Ahmed can be viewed here:
In the final session, Nicholas Cole and Lauren Davis Jarnach presented PACT’s new digital platform on the Indian Constitution.
Exhibition Walkthrough
The conference concluded with a walkthrough of our exhibition led by Professor Rochana Bajpai: After the Assembly: Constituting India at the SOAS Gallery
Pluralist Agreement and Constitutional Transformation 