Mujtaba Syed / New Delhi
The Wqaf Act has started a debate on the supremacy of Parliament or the Supreme Court in India. This follows a BJP MP attacking the Supreme Court after it started hearing petitions on the Waqf Amendment Act.
The Muslim litigant, the prime party in this case, has challenged the Wqaf Act, calling it unconstitutional.
A BJP MP, Nishikant Dubey, has questioned the locus standi of the Supreme Court of India. In a post on X, he wrote, “Parliament should be closed down if the Supreme Court has to make the laws” (Kanoon yadi Supreme Court hi banayega to Sansad Bhavan bund kar dena chahiye).
He added, “The Supreme Court is breaching its boundaries. It is going beyond its limits. If one has to go to the Supreme Court for everything, then Parliament and State Assembly should be shut down.”
Dubey, who represents the Godda constituency in Jharkhand, also targeted the Chief Justice of India, saying, “Sanjiv Khanna is responsible for all the civil wars happening in this country.”
Dubey’s salvo against the Supreme Court goes on, “The Parliament makes the law of this country. You will dictate to Parliament? How did you make a new law?
He further attacks SC, “How can you give direction to the President who appoints the Chief Justice of India. In which law is it written that the President has to decide within three months? This means that you want to take this country towards anarchy.”
Some opposition MPs have slammed Dubey’s remark, saying, “BJP is trying to weaken the Supreme Court.”
“What the Supreme Court is saying is, the law made by the government should not go against the basic structure of the constitution, and if that is the case, the Court will not accept it,” said Congress MP Imran Masood
AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, “Whenever any judge gives a judgment in favor of the BJP, they are made member of the Rajya Sabha, and now, when the CJI has instructed that the law should be followed, the BJP has used all its resources to defame him and attack the Supreme Court.”
Dubey’s remarks came amid hearings on several pleas ongoing in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
The timing of Dubey’s remark is also noteworthy, as Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar voiced strong disapproval of the Supreme Court’s judgment after it set a timeline for the President to decide on the bills sent to her.
Dhankhar sharply criticized the SC, saying, “The Supreme Court cannot fire a ‘nuclear missile’ at the democratic forces.” He was speaking to the sixth batch of Rajya Sabha interns at the Vice-President’s Enclave.
BJP has nothing to do with Nishikant Dubey remarks: Nadda
Hours after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey launched a strong attack on the Supreme Court, including blaming Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for “all civil wars in the country”, party president J P Nadda on Saturday said the BJP “completely rejected” these remarks and warned against such statements.
Earlier in the day, Dubey posted his ANI video clip on X in which, while responding to a question on the Waqf law and the recent violence in West Bengal, he says: “Iss desh mein jitne grih yuddha ho rahe hain unke zimmedar kewal yahaan ke Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna Sahab hain (CJI Sanjiv Khanna is responsible for all civil wars in this country).”
He also criticised the Supreme Court’s recent decisions – on red-flagging aspects of the Waqf law and suggesting it could stay them, and setting a timeline for the President to clear Bills. Underlining that it is the Parliament which makes laws, he said in a post on X: “Kanoon yadi Supreme Court hi banayega to Sansad Bhavan bandh kar dena chahiye (If the Supreme Court makes the law, then Parliament House should be closed).”