Upping the ante, the Congress on Friday alleged that Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s comments on the judiciary were part of a “game plan to orchestrate a confrontation”, and cited his predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu’s remarks in 2020 that the Constitution is supreme.
Vice President Dhankhar on Wednesday said “one-upmanship and public posturing” from judicial platforms is not good and these institutions must know how to conduct themselves. Dhankhar’s virtual censure of the judiciary had come following the apex court’s remarks on the issue of the collegium system.
Stepping up the party’s attack over the issue, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Mr Chidambaram has pointedly countered the Vice President’s assault on the judiciary by saying the Constitution and not Parliament is supreme. Just a year ago, Mr Dhankar’s predecessor Venkaiah Naidu-garu had said exactly what Mr Chidambaram has.” Ramesh tagged an official release of Naidu’s remarks at the inaugural session of the 80th All India Conference of Presiding Officers at Kevadia, Gujarat, in November 2020.
In his remarks, Naidu had said none of the three organs of the ‘State’ can claim to be supreme as only the Constitution is supreme and the legislature, the executive and the judiciary are bound to work within the respective domains as defined in the Constitution.
Asked about Dhankhar’s comments at a press conference later in the day, Ramesh said,”this is clearly an orchestration of a confrontation between the judiciary and the government. Different voices are being raised. It is one thing to have a committed judiciary but if the objective is to have a captured judiciary then I think democracy is under threat.” “So, this is part of a game plan to orchestrate a confrontation,” he alleged.
Noting that this year would be the 50 anniversary of the Kesavananda Bharati verdict, the Congress leader said if there is one judgement that every political party has upheld, it was this one.
“I have heard Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee speak in favour of the Kesavananda Bharati verdict, I have seen Mr (L K) Advani speak in its favour and of course I have heard Mr Arun Jaitley speak multiple times on how the Kesavnanda Bharati case is a milestone,” he said.
“On the soon-to-be 50th anniversary of the Kesavananda Bharati judgement…no less a man than the Vice president, one constitutional functionary is attacking another constitutional institution, it is an extraordinary situation,” Ramesh said.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday had said Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar is wrong when he says that Parliament is supreme as it is the Constitution that is supreme.
The “basic structure” doctrine was evolved to prevent a majoritarian-driven assault on the foundational principles of the Constitution, the former Union minister had said.
Addressing the 83rd All India Presiding Officers Conference in Jaipur, Dhankar had again criticised the scrapping of the NJAC Act in 2015 and questioned the landmark 1973 Kesavananda Bharati case verdict, saying it set a wrong precedent. He also disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling that Parliament can amend the Constitution but not its basic structure.
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