The Centre vs Supreme Court just got lot a lot more edgier, angrier. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has launched a broadside against the Supreme Court, and he is not playing coy. Words like “anarchy” “inciting religious wars” have been thrown at the highest court of the land in the country by the BJP MP.
The comments follow Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s “Article 142 has become a nuclear missile against democratic forces, available to judiciary 24×7” comments. The Vice President made the comments after a Supreme Court judgment effectively laid down a deadline for the President and Governors to clear Bills.
“How can you give direction to the appointing authority? The President appoints the Chief Justice of India. The Parliament makes the law of this country. You will dictate that Parliament?… How did you make a new law? In which law is it written that the President has to take a decision within three months? This means that you want to take this country towards anarchy. When the Parliament sits, there will be a detailed discussion on this…,” said Mr Dubey, appearing to raise questions of propriety and questioning limits of judiciary’s power.
“Supreme Court is responsible for inciting religious wars in the country. The Supreme Court is going beyond its limits. If one has to go to the Supreme Court for everything, then Parliament and State Assembly should be shut,” said Mr Dubey, without giving proof of how the top court has incited religious wars.
The provocative remarks come days after the Supreme Court, the final arbiter in matters of constitutional rights, order in a Tamil Nadu case, in which it ruled that Governor RN Ravi’s decision to withhold assent to 10 bills was “illegal and “arbitrary”. The Supreme Court bench set a three-month deadline for Presidential and gubernatorial assent to Bills passed by the legislature for the second time. The top court further underlined that it would be prudent for the President to refer Bills with constitutional questions to the Supreme Court.
Mr Dubey’s comments mirror the example of Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had raised questions against the judiciary, saying “so we have judges who will legislate, who will act as super-parliament”.
“There is a directive to the President by a recent judgment. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy for this day. President being called upon to decide in a time-bound manner, and if not, becomes law. So we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super-parliament, and absolutely have no accountability because law of the land does not apply to them,” said Mr Dhankhar had said.