Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s rap of Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju for indulging in political activities while heading a quasi judicial body has erupted into full blown war of words between the Congress and the Opposition party.
The BJP launched fresh attack on Justice Katju for expressing “unsolicited, bizarre” opinions against non-Congress ruled states and reiterated that the “biased” PCI head should step down immediately.
“Mr Katju as Chairperson of the Press Council of India, holds a statutory position, yet he is seemingly floating around the country like a vagabond and giving unsolicited bizarre opinions,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.
Katju recently had recently targeted Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar over “censorship of Press” and Narendra Modi’s Government on Godhra violence. Jaitley had hit out at Justice Katju on Sunday saying it was a “fundamental principle in the conduct of Judicial or Quasi Judicial functions a Judge should refrain from involving themselves in political controversies” and if he desires to get into a political activity or a political debate then “he should cease to hold his Judicial or Quasi-Judicial office”.
Rudy maintained that the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley had made an apt statement that Katju was carrying the “brief of the Congress party” and asked him to resign. “Mr Modi has also supported Jaitley’s statement that Katju should quit,” Rudy said.
Katju found another critics in JD(U), which also asked him to stop acting as a Congress agent. “He (Katju) should uphold the decency of a high constitutional post like that of PCI Chairman and stop behaving like a Congress agent,” JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha said.
Jha, a close confidant of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said if Katju was not convinced of transformation in Bihar under NDA rule, he should go and have dialogue with Nobel laureates like the Dalai lama, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz who have appreciated the turnaround in the State.
However, noted jurist Fali S Nariman praised Katju for for his newspaper article which was critical of Narendra Modi. Nariman, in an email sent on Friday to Justice Katju, which was released to the media by the PCI chief, said the article was “outstanding”.
“I already telephoned and told you how pleased we were with the article in this morning’s HINDU, but I must place it on record. It is an outstanding (article) — it needed to be said by a person who doesn’t merely pretend to support human rights but lives it every moment of his life,” Nariman said.
BJP’s youth wing chief Anurag Thakur also slammed Justice Katju’s “hyperbolic commentary” in a newspaper saying it was unbecoming of the quasi-judicial position he holds as the Chairman of the Press Council of India.
“His article heavily misinterprets facts, undermines achievements and fails to acknowledge that Narendra Modi has provided 10 years of economic stability, peace
and development,” Hamirpur MP said.
