Home > News & Events > Justice A.M. Ahmadi Distinguished Lecture 2026 | Lecture by Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Justice A.M. Ahmadi Distinguished Lecture 2026 | Lecture by Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Where:

Bangalore International Centre, Domlur

When:

Sunday, July 12, 2026, 11:00 am

The RSVP Form will be out soon.

About the Event

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru and the Ahmadi Foundation are jointly organising the second lecture of the Justice Ahmadi Distinguished Lecture Series on 12 July 2026, at the Bangalore International Centre, Domlur. Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi will be delivering the lecture titled, “Being Brutally Frank: Human Instincts and the Law.”

NLSIU and the Ahmadi Foundation entered into a MoU to set up the Justice Ahmadi Initiative on Rule of Law, Democracy, and Social Justice in honour of, and to preserve and promote the legacy of former Chief Justice of India, Justice Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi. The Initiative works to advance the ideas that Justice Ahmadi championed throughout his distinguished career, including but not restricted to human rights, education, inclusion and protection of vulnerable communities, judicial independence, alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, and strengthening of democratic institutions. Read more about the Initiative here.

The annual lecture series is a part of the Justice Ahmadi Initiative on Rule of Law, Democracy and Social Justice.

Short Abstract

What is brutal about frankness, or frank about brutality? Is being frank not the same thing as being honest? Are the two born of instinct or are they inculcated? And is that being frank and honest, an invitation to risk? The speaker will explore the status and prognoses in India for this faculty for frankness, with examples drawn from history, literature and the news of the day.

About the Speaker

Gopalkrishna Gandhi takes a course on India’s Civilisations at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. He is also Distinguished Professor at NALSAR, Hyderabad. He was in administrative positions for over twenty years as a member of the Tamil Nadu cadre of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and later held diplomatic assignments for over ten years in the United Kingdom, South Africa with concurrent accreditation to Lesotho, Sri Lanka and Norway with concurrent accreditation to Iceland. He was Governor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009, and was, additionally, Governor of Bihar for about a year during that period.

His recently published works include The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India (Aleph, 2025) and India’s Futures: A Collection of Essays (Bloomsbury India, 2025). Gopalkrishna Gandhi and his wife, Tara Gandhi, an ornithologist and nature conservationist, divide their time between Chennai, Bengaluru, Coonoor and no less on the road, railway-lines and skies travelling between those three places.