| | K Balagopal metamorphosed from a committed believer in the Naxalbari movement to a human rights activist, defining the terms of his transition. In doing so, he rejected the choice of social transformation by violence, opting instead for such change through a struggle for rights.
But the problem is that rights campaigns by themselves will
not lead to social transformation. As a lawyer, Balagopal showed himself as the only lawyer of the poor of his generation with a reputation for competence. The poor knew that he was about the one lawyer who believed in their right to life. In his competence that equalled the lawyers of the affluent he was visible. Balagopal made the Court conscious that
he was appearing for a citizen
or a collective of citizens for whose benefit the Constitution was created.
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