The Congress on Monday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his attempts to polarise votes during the assembly polls by raking up the Ayodhya issue. This was after Modi accused the Congress in an election rally on Sunday of bullying the Supreme Court in postponing the Ayodhya case.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal said on Monday that Modi’s comments were tantamount to defaming the highest court of India. “You (the Prime Minister) are defaming the Supreme Court. Are you trying to say that the Supreme Court can come under any political pressure? This is shameful. The Prime Minister should not give such statements,” he was quoted by the NDTV.
While addressing a rally in Alwar in Rajasthan Modi had accused the Congress for applying pressure on the Supreme Court to delay the hearing on Ayodhya. If the Supreme Court did not concede to their demands, he added, the Congress leaders than ganged up to impeach the Supreme Court judge. He was referring to the ex-Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who had faced the impeachment attempts by MPs from the Congress and other opposition parties in May this year.
Modi had later tweeted, “New tricks of the Congress: Send lawyers to the Rajya Sabha. Obstruct key legislation. Armtwist the courts. And, if a Judge does not give verdicts they like then bully them with impeachment threats. Congress’ black deeds will not succeed till I am here.”
New tricks of the Congress:
Send lawyers to the Rajya Sabha.
Obstruct key legislation.
Armtwist the courts.
And, if a Judge does not give verdicts they like then bully them with impeachment threats.
Congress’ black deeds will not succeed till I am here. pic.twitter.com/qJeOiPDZDR
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 25, 2018
The motion was rejected by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu even before it could come for a discussion in the Rajya Sabha. Former CJI Misra was widely accused of being biased towards the Narendra Modi government.
Last month, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had put paid to BJP’s hopes for an early hearing of the Ayodhya case by deciding that dates for the new hearing will be announced in January next year.
