MUMBAI, Dec. 21 -- Senior advocate and feminist legal scholar Indira Jaising on Saturday said the Indian Constitution was the single thread that bound citizens across languages, regions and generations, warning that any attempt to weaken it threatened the very foundation of democracy. Speaking at the function to celebrate 50 years of the feminist organisation Maharashtra Stree Mukti Parishad (MSMP), Jaising placed the clarion call of 'Save the Constitution' at the centre of present-day political and social action, stating that without it, "Everything is lost". Addressing a largely young audience, Jaising reflected on her return to a public platform after nearly five decades in the legal profession. She said her generation's responsibility was to share its experiences and then hand over the baton leadership to the next one. "We belong to the 19th century, you belong to the 20th and 21st. The time has come to pass on what we have learnt," she said, adding that younger activists must chart their own paths while remaining rooted in constitutional values. The three-day state-level conference, held at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, was inaugurated by MP Supriya Sule. Social activist and former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed and MSMP president Sharada Sathe were among the chief guests. Recounting her personal history as a Sindhi whose family home was left behind in Pakistan, Jaising said the Constitution was the only bond connecting her to fellow citizens in India. "Beyond the Constitution, there is no relationship between you and me," she said, urging people to carry constitutional values not only in their hearts and minds but also in their daily work. She noted that in more than 50 years of legal practice, she had never entered court without the Constitution guiding her, adding that neither her own journey nor the women's movement would have been possible without it. Jaising emphasised the combined legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar, arguing that street movements and courtroom struggles were inseparable. Rights-based movements, she said, could not survive if either protest or legal action was abandoned. Tracing the milestones of the women's movement, Jaising referred to campaigns against dowry, struggles for equal inheritance and labour rights, and landmark legal battles including guardianship rights, Christian women's inheritance and the challenge to instant triple talaq. She cautioned against the appropriation of women's rights by political forces and warned against attempts to replace constitutional principles with religious ideas such as 'Ram Rajya'. "Our Constitution begins with 'We, the people'. There is no king in it," she quipped. Expressing concern about changed labour codes and policy shifts, Jaising said there was a visible effort to roll back hard-won rights. "If the Constitution goes, fundamental rights go with it," she warned. While addressing the gathering, Syeda Hameed said the struggle for women's rights, secularism and democracy could not be confined to one state or religion, describing South Asia as a shared homeland bound by humanity. She also spoke about communal violence, particularly recalling her role as an eyewitness to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Hameed described how she documented brutal crimes against Muslim women, including rape and mutilation, calling it one of the darkest chapters in India's history. She linked this violence to the erosion of shared spaces and increasing ghettoisation of communities. MP Supriya Sule briefly recalled MSMP memories over the past five decades. She said, "Although women are entering politics in large numbers today and becoming sarpanches (village heads), the actual administration remains in the hands of their husbands, the 'Sarpanch Patis' (husbands of the sarpanches). True liberation for women will only come when they receive genuine respect in schools and homes." Sule further stated that the central government had recently passed a bill regarding MGNREGA in the Lok Sabha, and said the impact this would have was worrying. While issues like food, clothing, and shelter remain a concern, everyone needed to think critically about the potentially serious consequences of the upcoming nuclear agreement resolutions....