Bullying Congress culture, no wonder being rejected: PM Modi

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday backed senior lawyers who accused a vested interest group of attempting to undermine public trust in the Indian judiciary and said browbeating and bullying is vintage Congress culture.

“To browbeat and bully others is vintage Congress culture. Five decades ago itself they had called for a “committed judiciary”—they shamelessly want commitment from others for their selfish interests but desist from any commitment towards the nation,” the PM said in a sharp public attack on the principal opposition party.

He said the Congress was being rejected for its culture.

“No wonder 140 crore Indians are rejecting them,” said the PM hours after more than 600 lawyers, including senior advocate Harish Salve, Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra and SCBA president Adish C Aggarwala, wrote to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud expressing serious concern over direct attacks being made by a vested interest group to damage the public’s trust in the judiciary.

In a letter addressed to the CJI, the lawyers accused the vested interest group of employing pressure tactics to influence judicial outcomes, particularly in cases involving political figures and corruption allegations.

The PM was alluding to judicial appointments under late PM Indira Gandhi.

Justice AN Ray was appointed the 14th Chief Justice of India in 1973. In a departure from convention, the Indira Gandhi Government appointed Ray as CJI over three senior Judges, a day after the court’s famed decision in Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala, 1973.

Following Ray’s retirement, Justice Beg was appointed CJI, superseding the senior-most Judge of the Court—Justice HR Khanna, who had dissented in the famous ADM Jabalpur v Shivakant Shukla, 1976, which decreed that a person’s right against unlawful arrest can be suspended in the interest of the state.

The two supersessions under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi are well known.