Clothes alone don't make one Yogi: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow, Nov 9: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said a person "is not a yogi by what he wears but what he speaks".
The dig, apparently aimed at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, was made on the birthday of 'Khajanchi,' a boy born to a woman standing in a queue to exchange banknotes after demonetisation. The boy was named so by Yadav.
"Countdown has started for those who do encounters. Their days in the seat of power are numbered," Yadav said at the programme.
Yadav, without naming anyone, said people with cunning tend to become bitter in speech.
"You can see that their language has changed, their way of thinking and understanding have also changed. They are so scared that they are considering the officers as their officials, but the officials and the government people probably do not know that the public is no longer with them. The public is against the BJP. When the public is against them, what will the officials do?" he said.
On the upcoming bypolls, the SP chief said his party will have a strategy to counter every move of the BJP, which has "no credibility left."
"A person who does not consider anyone to be bigger than him, what kind of a yogi is he? If there is anybody who is setting the seers against each other, it's the people in the government," the former UP chief minister said, apparently targeting Adityanath.
"It is said that the greater a saint is, the less he speaks, and when he speaks, it is for public welfare. Here, everything is the opposite. The kind of language which is being used... A person is not a yogi by what he wears, but by what he speaks," he said.
Yadav said the older 'Khajanchi,' gets, the more he will remind people of the failure of demonetisation.
"And the truth is, demonetisation emerged as the biggest corruption in economic history of the world. Demonetisation has proved to be the ocean of BJP's corruption. It was a cosmetic exercise, and it has remained so," he said.
Yadav likened the impact of demonetisation to that of a "slow poison" which afflicted farmers, labourers, the middle and salaried class, small traders and street vendors.
"Demonetisation will become the reason for 'votebandi' for the BJP. Demonetisation brought recession and shut down many businesses and factories. Now this will lock down BJP's power," he said.
Yadav also derided BJP's 'Amrit Kaal' catchphrase to say that the party's tenure at the Centre has only brought the country ruin.
"There has been a tradition of sages here. But today those who should be soft-spoken have become verbose and harsh-spoken. Those who should speak the truth have become false preachers. Those who should dispel fearlessness are spreading fear. Those who should do charity have become tyrants.
"Those whose job should be to run the government are running bulldozers. The government should be a symbol of development but has become a symbol of destruction," he said.
"So many women or daughters had never come to the Chief Minister's residence to commit suicide as much they have come under this government," he added.
He also hit out at the state government over the wait for fertilisers for farmers and termed the BJP, which governs the state, drunk on power.
"It is working against the Constitution and democracy. Bulldozer cannot be a symbol of justice but this government is running bulldozers in the arrogance of power," he said.
"The BJP government is not running on 'Samvidhan' (Constitution) but on 'Manvidhan' (arbitrary rule)," Yadav added.
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CJI's advice to aspirant: Join the bar, become a lawyer, don't hanker for judicial services post
New Delhi (PTI): She came to the Supreme Court seeking a re-evaluation of her paper in the examination for joining judicial services as a magistrate. What she got instead was a rejection — and a candid confession by the Chief Justice that he too had wanted to join the judicial services in his youth but was advised by a senior judge to become a lawyer instead.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Friday dismissed a plea filed by Prerna Gupta, the judicial services aspirant.
As Gupta pressed her case, the CJI intervened and said, "Let me share my personal story and I hope you will go happily as we cannot allow your petition."
He recounted his time as a final-year law student in 1984 when he wanted to become a judicial officer. As per requirement, he cleared the written test and was set to appear for an interview.
Judicial services is one of the two routes to become a judge after initially joining as a magistrate in lower court and thereafter rising through the ranks to become judge in a high court and possibly the Supreme Court.
The other route is to join the Bar, which means becoming a lawyer, and after building a reputation be picked from the Bar to become a judge at a senior level.
By the time the CJI's exam results came out, he had started practising at the Punjab and Haryana High Court when he was called for the interview.
The senior-most judge on the interview panel happened to be a judge before whom he had recently argued two significant matters.
"One of the matters was Sunita Rani vs Baldev Raj, where he had allowed my appeal in a matrimonial case and set aside the decree of divorce granted by the District Judge on the ground of schizophrenia," he noted.
Before the interview could take place, the judge called the young Surya Kant to his chamber and asked, 'Do you want to become a judicial officer?'
"I said 'yes.' He immediately said, 'Get out from (my) the chamber.'"
The courtroom fell silent as the CJI Justice described his initial heartbreak.
“I came out trembling. All my dreams were shattered. I thought he had snubbed me and that my career was over,” the CJI said.
However, the story took another turn the following day and the judge summoned him again, this time offering a piece of advice that would change the trajectory of his life.
“He said, ‘If you want to become (a judge), you are welcome. But my advice is, don’t become a judicial officer. The Bar is waiting for you,’” Justice Surya Kant recalled.
The CJI said he decided to skip his interview and didn't even tell his parents at first, fearing their disappointment, and instead chose to dedicate himself to his practice as an advocate.
“Now tell me did I make a bad right or bad decision,” the CJI asked and the litigant lawyer left the court with a smile on her face despite her case being dismissed.
Encouraging the petitioner to look toward the future rather than dwelling on the re-evaluation of a single paper, Justice Surya Kant said, "The Bar has much to offer."
