Cong intimidating SC in Ram temple case: Modi
PM should show courage to directly criticise court: Sibal
ALWAR/AYODHYA/NAGPUR: The Congress tried to delay Supreme Court hearings in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute and even threatened the judiciary with impeachment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday — a day when the right-wing Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) organised a massive rally supporting the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
At a poll rally in Rajasthan’s Alwar, Modi said Congress leaders attempted to defer hearings in the decades-old dispute because of the elections before and in 2019, accusing the opposition party of dragging the judiciary into politics and undermining judicial independence.
His comments came even as an estimated 50,000 supporters of the Ram temple gathered in Ayodhya for the VHP event and the Shiv Sena organised a programme in the Uttar Pradesh town to mount pressure on the government on the contentious issue, which featured in the 2014 election manifesto of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“If a Supreme Court judge does not prepare the time table [for hearing cases] as per their [Congress’s] political intentions and wants to hear all to deliver justice on a serious and sensitive issue, such as Ayodhya, then the party’s lawyers, who are Rajya Sabha members, start the game of scaring the judges in the name of impeachment,” Modi said.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal, who was the apparent target of Modi’s comments, said the Prime Minister was talking about Ayodhya to earn political capital in the election season.
“I have not appeared in the Supreme Court between January and November this year. When the matter came up before the court in October, the Chief Justice of India said this is not the priority. So, does the Prime Minister have the courage to make a statement against the judiciary?” he asked.
Seven opposition parties led by the Congress moved a notice for the impeachment of the previous Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, in April, accusing him of “misbehaviour” and “misuse” of authority in the administration of the court. Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the notice.