‘Prophets of doom’: Cong slams S-G’s SC argument

■ Modi govt making new definitions: Surjewala

The Congress on Friday lashed out at the assertions made by the solicitor general of India on behalf of the Central government in Supreme Court on Thursday. Reacting sharply, Congress communications chief Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, “Modi govt’s ‘New Definitions’ in SC — 1) ‘Some high courts are running a parallel govt’ 2) Those criticising the govt are ‘prophets of doom’ 3) Cites instance of a journalist as ‘vulture.” Questioning the transfer of the bench in Gujarat high court, he said that it was a prelude to complete autocracy and abdication of the Constitution. He added, “No wonder the high court bench holding Gujarat govt accountable for abdication of duty & turning the hospital into a ‘dungeon’ is suddenly changed. Can there be a greater ‘travesty of justice’? Why is SC silent on such rank subversion of justice?”

The solicitor general had told the apex court on Thursday that the Centre is doing a lot to contain the coronavirus outbreak, but there are “prophets of doom in our country who only spread negativity, negativity, negativity. These armchair intellectuals do not recognise the nation’s efforts,” he added.

Another senior Congress leader and top lawyer Kapil Sibal also lashed out on the SG and tweeted, “Sad but true. A law officer in the Supreme Court dealing with the plight of migrants epitomised by the images in the public domain said: Journalists are vultures and high courts are running parallel governments. This is politics not law!”

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday taken suo motu cognisance of problems faced by the guest labourers who are stranded in different parts of the country due to the nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak. While pulling up the civil hospital in Ahmedabad for its handling of Covid-19 cases, the Gujarat high court on May 24 had said, “Human life is precious and cannot be wasted.”

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