India, July 9 -- "India achieved freedom after a long battle, and if the freedom has to be sustained, political parties will have to put discrimination over caste and creed aside and ensure that the country remains united," said Bhushan Gavai, Chief Justice of India (CJI) quoting Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on Tuesday. The CJI also pointed out that Ambedkar had insisted on the supremacy of the Constitution and believed that the judiciary should be free from interference by the executive.

Gavai was addressing a lecture on 'The Constitution of India' in the Vidhan Bhavan, where he was also felicitated by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and others. He was the first CJI felicitated in recent history by the state legislature for being a 'son of th...