Can’t join issue with mighty HM, says Opposition VP poll nominee Reddy on Salwa Judum case

Joint opposition candidate for the September 9 Vice-Presidential election B Sudarshan Reddy on Monday said he didn’t want to join issue with the “mighty Home Minister of India” on the 2011 Supreme Court judgment in the Salwa Judum matter as the “judgment spoke for itself”.

In an interview with The Tribune, hours after Home Minister Amit Shah again said the judgment which Reddy, a former apex court judge, authored, weakened India’s fight against Naxalism, the Opposition’s VP poll nominee asked why the issue was being raked up after 14 years.

“They (Shah and BJP leaders) are speaking after 14 years of the judgment. The judgment is eloquent enough. I have said what needed to be said. I cannot be joining issue with the mighty Home Minister every day,” he said on the controversy around the verdict that disbanded the anti-Naxal force ‘Salwa Judum’, which had armed local tribals in the fight against Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar.

Urging Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, who form the electoral college for the VP election, to exercise a conscience vote, Reddy said his non-partisan background would hold him in good stead.

“No doubt NDA nominee CP Radhakrishnan, my opponent in the election, is a political person, but to say that I am not political won’t be correct. Once you exercise your franchise and choose a particular party or individual, you are expressing your opinion. I have opinions on politics, democracy, the Constitution and the idea of republicanism. It is not that I am non-political. I am non-partisan,” Reddy said, adding that it was for a reason the Constitution makers based elections to high constitutional offices on a secret ballot rather than a party whip.

Will run House impartially

Parliament is veering towards near-anarchy. The onus of rescuing the situation lies on the shoulders of presiding officers. To stem the democratic decline, I would do just one thing — run the House impartially. - B Sudarshan Reddy

Revealing that it was the Congress that first approached him to fight the VP poll and the INDIA bloc backed him, Reddy lamented what he called a “near-anarchical” situation in Parliament these days. Answering a Tribune query on the pandemonium witnessed in Parliament during the just-concluded monsoon session, Reddy said the onus of rescuing the situation lies on the shoulders of presiding officers.

“Which citizen would be happy to see what’s going on in Parliament. Instead of discussions, there’s near anarchy... The situation has become very complex and we really require the person sitting there (the presiding officer) to make himself acceptable to MPs, assuring them that the person is fair-minded. I think I will be able to present myself to all members as a fair-minded person.”

Flagging a growing democratic deficit in the country, Reddy defined the deficit as a strain on institutions.

“I don’t say institutions have collapsed. That would perhaps be an exaggeration, but they are under challenge,” he said.

Asked what he as a seeker of VP post would do to stem the democratic decline he was referring to, Reddy said he would do just one thing — “run the House impartially”.

On another query about what he would attribute the growing Opposition-government divide to, Reddy said “polarisation”.

“This is because we are getting increasingly polarised. Whatever happens outside will be reflected in the House. The Constitution is the only instrument that binds us and MPs also sometimes forget this. One must promote unity, not disunity. One must not fall into the trap of majority and minority. Why is the main opposition party in the UK called His Majesty’s opposition? Because the opposition and ruling party are two sides of one coin,” he said.