Former V-P Ansari remembers ‘one-man institution’ A.G. Noorani

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Former Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari  | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Renowned columnist and legal expert A.G. Noorani was remembered at a memorial lecture at the India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi on Friday (September 19, 2026), where former Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari described the former The Hindu and Frontline columnist as a “polymath” and “one-man institution”.

Calling Mr. Noorani as one of the sharpest minds on constitutional law, Mr. Ansari said he had his own distinctive way of working. Although he was not a grassroots reporter, Mr. Noorani understood the pulse of the nation, he said. The Noorani Records, a publication of The Hindu containing some of the best writings of the late columnist, was also released by Mr. Ansari in the presence of former Union Minister Salman Khurshid. Mr. Noorani wrote for The Hindu and Frontline for nearly four decades.

In his speech, titled ‘Remembering a Polymath: The Life and Times of Abdul Ghafoor Noorani’, Mr. Ansari said Mr. Noorani’s life and work reflected an unwavering commitment to justice, civil liberties, minority rights, secularism and constitutional governance.

Recalling various facets of Mr. Noorani’s personality, Mr. Ansari said he was well respected among lawyers in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court. On issues ranging from constitutional amendments and the Anti-Defection Bill more than 30 years ago, to the more recent Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Mr. Noorani wrote with “rare perspicacity”, he said. He also wrote on the "troughs and crests” of Kashmir.

Born in erstwhile Bombay into the Kutchi Memon community, Mr. Noorani guarded his privacy and was not known to mingle easily with people. He spent his time reading and writing. After his death, his vast collection of books was sent to the Jharkhand High Court library, after a section of lawyers opposed the proposal to keep the books in the Bombay High Court.

“He was a polymath and much more,” Mr. Ansari said, adding, “His writings covered domestic politics, jurisprudence, international relations and history, often bringing together legal, political and historical perspectives.”

For a good part of his address, Mr. Ansari focused on Mr. Noorani’s contribution to the defence of human rights and constitutional freedoms. He described him as a fierce defender of civil liberties, minority rights and constitutional governance, particularly at a time when State power and legislation posed serious questions for individual freedoms.

Mr. Noorani’s writings repeatedly examined State overreach, secularism and religious equality. Mr. Ansari said his approach was rooted in the defence of fundamental freedoms and opposition to oppressive legislation and injustice.

Among Mr. Noorani’s early works was his 1963 biography of then President Dr. Zakir Husain. The book carried a foreword by Jayaprakash Narayan, who praised Husain’s “active, creative, refined, dedicated, fearless and truthful” life. Mr. Ansari also recalled that a reproduction of painter M.F. Husain’s portrait of Mr. Noorani appeared in the volume.

Mr. Noorani’s concern with justice was also reflected in The Trial of Bhagat Singh: Politics of Justice, in which he argued that Bhagat Singh and his colleague had been victims of a miscarriage of justice amounting to judicial murder.

His scholarship was not confined to Indian constitutional and political questions. His study of the India-China boundary dispute, covering from 1846to 1947, examined the historical origins of one of India’s major foreign-policy challenges. Mr. Ansari described his treatment of the dispute as a combination of history, law, morality and political expediency.

Among those present were former Union Ministers Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar, besides diplomats, bureaucrats and authors.

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