Opposition parties, many mediapersons, and so called ‘intellectuals’ in India are nowadays strongly criticising the BJP for undermining and destroying the independence of state institutions like Parliament, the Judiciary, the Election Commission of India, etc.
The truth is that Indira Gandhi had destroyed them long before the BJP came to power in 2014.
The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, had great respect for institutions. Thus, he followed the old convention that the Chief Justice of the High Courts would initiate names for appointment of High Court Judges, and the Government would almost always accept his recommendation.
For any queries or to publish an article or post or advertisement on our platform, do call at +91 6377460764 or email us at contact@legalmaestros.com.
In his book ‘Roses in December’ former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Justice MC Chagla, has written that once he recommended the name of a lawyer, who was a member of the RSS. The then Chief Minister of Bombay, Morarji Desai, objected, saying that the person recommended was in the RSS. Chagla, a Muslim, stuck to his guns, and said he was a good lawyer and was of high integrity. Thereupon Desai yielded, and the person was appointed, and he proved to be a good judge.
Former Chief Justice of India, Justice Hidayatullah, has written in his book ‘My Own Boswell’ that when he was Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the then Chief Minister of MP, Dr KN Katju, met him and said ” Chief Justice, this is your High Court. Whichever name you recommend, the government will accept it. However, if there is some adverse material against a person you have recommended, and which you may not be aware of, I will forward it to you. If after considering it you still think that the person should be appointed, I will have no objection ”.
This is the way Prime Minister Nehru, and his colleagues functioned.
But after his death when Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister, everything changed. She had no respect for institutions, which she undermined and almost destroyed one by one systematically. All she had was lust for power.
After the fake ‘Emergency’ she imposed in 1975 following the Allahabad High Court verdict holding her guilty of corrupt electoral parties and cancelling her election, and debarring her from contesting for 6 years, she went almost crazy. She suspended all fundamental rights in the Indian Constitution, got tens of thousands of political opponents and activists arrested and jailed for 19 months
on false and frivolous charges, and committed all kinds of atrocities on the people, so as to remain in power by hook or crook.
It was Indira Gandhi and her close advisers Mohan Kumarmangalam, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Om Mehta, etc who destroyed the independence of the judiciary, by advocating the concept of a ‘committed judiciary’
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/criteria-for-the-courts/article25541336.ece
I remember that during her tenure as PM, 16 names were sent by the central government to the then Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, and he was asked to recommend them for appointment as High Court Judges. This itself was breach of a long standing convention that names for appointment as High Court judges should be initiated by the Chief Justice, not by the government.
Except for one, all the other 15 names sent by the government to the Chief Justice were of totally undeserving persons, who were closely associated with the Congress party or some high authority. The Chief Justice was perhaps given the lollipop that if he recommends these names, he will be made a Supreme Court Judge. Accordingly, he recommended them, and they were all appointed.
Indira Gandhi broke the long standing convention of appointing the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India, by superseding Justices, Hegde, Shelat and Grover, who were known to be independent, and appointing their junior Justice AN Ray, who was Indira Gandhi’s sycophant, as the CJI. She repeated this later by superseding Justice HR Khanna who dissented in the infamous ADM Jabalpur vs Shivakant Shukla verdict of the Supreme Court in 1976 holding that a citizen has no right to life or liberty during an Emergency.
Parliament, far from being an institution representing the people, became a mere rubber stamp, with its members too scared to say anything which may displease her, lest they be arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act ( MISA ). Governors of states became mere puppets, shamelessly obeying her every command, however improper e.g. Andhra Pradesh Governor Ram Lal dismissing Chief Minister NT Rama Rao as he proved to be independent, and not a puppet or pushover.
So why do the Congress and other opposition parties, mediapersons, and our so called ‘intellectuals’ not blame the real person who destroyed or undermined all state institutions and long standing conventions in India ? After all, the BJP is only following in her illustrious footsteps
