Former Supreme Court judge Makandey Katju is famous for giving controversial statements but his recent social media post has sparked a bigger controversy with different sections of Bihar condemning him in one voice. Katju in his post, which he later claimed was only a joke, said Kashmir could be offered to Pakistan on the condition that the neighbouring country should also take over Bihar.
“Pakistanis, let us end our dispute once for all. We offer you Kashmir, but on the condition you also take Bihar. It is a package deal. You have to take the whole package or none at all. Either you take both Kashmir and Bihar or nothing. We will not give Kashmir alone. DealIJ” commented Katju on Sunday.
However, the angry reaction poured on Tuesday with leaders of almost all parties mounting verbal attack on former chairman of Press Council of India. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar without naming Katju said, “Just for the sake of publicity some people have a knack to utter nonsense about Bihar. lagta hai woh Bihar ke mai baap hain. He (Katju) speaks baseless and makes mockery of everything. He should know our past is very shining and historical and Patliputra ruled the nation then which was bigger than India today.”
BJP leader Vinod Narayan Jha demanded Katju’s immediate arrest and filing of sedition case. The BJP spokesman demanded inquiry to probe if Katju was entrapped among anti-nationals out to destroy India’s unity and integrity.
JD(U), RJD and Congress leaders too condemned his statement even if it was merely a joke saying it badly hurt the sentiments of Biharis living in State or outside. JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar on Tuesday filed an FIR with Shastrinagar police station against Katju.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi however said that Katju sometimes back had said that Nitish was fit candidate for the PM and Arvind Kejriwal as Deputy PM. “Now the same person who was favouring Nitish as PM is insulting Bihar,” he added.
Earlier Katju had made critical remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa too. Once he had also critically attacked Nitish at a programme in Patna University.
The retired judge however, rebuffed the criticism and said those who were offended by his post should file a petition in the Supreme Court praying for banning jokes about Biharis. “There is already a petition in the Supreme Court for banning Sardarji jokes (after all the Supreme Court has a lot of time to deal with such frivolous matters and little time to deal with urgent cases). So get your petition tagged with the Sardarji one. It would be pleasant sight for spectators to see Sardars and Biharis jostling together in the Courtroom,” Katju said in another post with critical comments on apex court too.