Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra strongly criticized former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in Parliament, questioning his decision to invite Prime Minister Modi to a Ganpati puja at his residence. She also criticized his remark about praying to a deity before delivering the Ayodhya verdict. Moitra’s comments sparked sharp reactions, adding to the contentious debates in the session.
New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud faced criticism from opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha on Friday for inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his Ganpati Puja earlier this year and for his comment about seeking a divine solution to the Ayodhya case.
During a debate marking the 75th anniversary of the Indian Constitution, MPs, including Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Ganpat Sawant, were vocal in their dissent. Modi is set to respond to the two-day debate on Saturday.
Moitra, representing Krishnanagar in West Bengal, indirectly referred to Chandrachud while questioning his “legacy.”
She stated,
“Attention-seeking divas do not leave legacies. Upholders and protectors of our basic sovereign rights will only be remembered.”
She warned,
“History will not be kind to you, your lords and ladyships, if you falter. To every Chief Justice of India, past and present, I say this: ‘Yours is not to worry about your personal legacy. Yours is not to take directions from God. Yours is not to have a private family function turned into a televised circus with the political executive. The Constitution is your only God. The Constitution is the only atithi (guest) who should be in your home as your deva (god).’”
Sawant also criticized the judiciary’s independence, questioning why judges join political parties and the Rajya Sabha after retirement.
He remarked,
“Sometimes I wonder if the judiciary is independent at all. Scared people are sitting there… Chandrachud sahab ne to aag laga di.”
He alluded to former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who became a member of the Rajya Sabha, saying,
“All these people think about what they will get in the future.”
Moitra also brought up Judge B.H. Loya, who passed away in December 2014 while overseeing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, a case in which BJP president Amit Shah was an accused but later acquitted. In 2018, a Supreme Court bench dismissed petitions alleging foul play in Loya’s death.
Moitra said,
“The Honourable defence minister mentioned the courage of the late Justice H.R. Khanna to dissent in 1976. May I remind everyone that Justice Khanna lived for 32 years after 1976 under a largely Congress regime, long enough to write his autobiography… unlike poor Justice Loya, who’s resting in peace long before his time.”
Justice H.R. Khanna was the sole dissenting voice in the Supreme Court’s 1976 ADM Jabalpur ruling, which held that citizens had no right to seek judicial remedies during an Emergency. He argued for the preservation of personal liberty, asserting that the right to life and liberty could not be curtailed even during such times.
Moitra’s comments angered several treasury bench MPs, including BJP’s Nishikant Dubey, who demanded that her remarks about Modi, CJI Chandrachud, and Judge Loya be expunged.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to her remarks about Loya, stating,
“The case was decisively settled by the Supreme Court. There should be proceedings against this, else any member could get up and say such a thing.”
He assured that appropriate parliamentary action would be taken, asserting,
“You cannot escape such a remark.”
Speaker Om Birla also indicated he would review the records.
Days before retiring, Chandrachud had told that he had granted bail to various individuals when asked about courts’ reluctance to grant bail.
Moitra responded,
“His alphabet (range) unfortunately seems abbreviated because it did not include G for Gulfisha Fatima, H for Hani Babu, K for Khalid Safi, S for Sharjeel Imam, and U for Umar Khalid. And countless others.”
In reference to Chandrachud’s claim of seeking divine guidance regarding the Ayodhya decision, she stated,
“I do not think that the framers of our Constitution ever imagined the scenario where judges would rely on private conversations with God to write judgments rather than on objective logic, reasoning, and the law and the Constitution.”
Moitra acknowledged the Emergency as a significant attack on democracy but remarked that the current government’s approach has been more insidious.
She argued,
“This government’s modus operandi has been indirect and creeping, with incremental systemic assaults for the past 10 years. The Modi government consistently sought to erase the distinction between the party and the state, capturing all mechanisms that ensure executive accountability. It is killing our Constitution by a thousand cuts.”
She highlighted various issues, including voter disenfranchisement, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, “bulldozer justice,” and the inaction of the Election Commission against violations by the ruling party, quipping, “We’ve jokingly started calling it ‘The Modiji Code of Conduct.’”