Opposition grand alliance an eyewash: Shah
New Delhi, Sep 8 : With the party deciding to fight the next Lok Sabha elections under his leadership, BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday hit out at opposition plans for a grand alliance, saying his party was not in the least bothered about it calling it an "eyewash".
In his inaugural speech at the two-day National Executive of the BJP, he accused the Congress of aligning with forces that want to "break" India while his party was focussed on "making" India.
He gave the message that the party was keen to win the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram to which list has been added Telangana, where the Assembly has been dissolved.
"The talk of mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is eyewash based on falsehood. It is not going to make any difference in 2019 because we have fought against each and every opposition party in 2014. We are not bothered about it," Shah was quoted as saying by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who briefed the media on the presidential speech.
Shah urged party workers not to be complacent because of the continuous electoral successes since 2014 and to reach out to the people with a clear-cut message that BJP was not at all worried about the opposition ganging up against the party.
Shah said the party was in power already in 19 states where it was sure of doing well in the Lok Sabha elections.
"West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana and other states where the BJP was in second position in 2014, we need to take advantage of anti-incumbency there. We will also perform better in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu," he said.
Shah said the BJP would contest the next Lok Sabha polls on the plank of its performance and organisational strength and form a government with a bigger mandate than in 2014.
Attacking former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his critical comments on Friday against the Modi government's performance, Shah said "Manmohan Singh follows his party, while Modi leads. That is the difference."
Referring to various issues including the "backlash" from upper castes on the recent amendment to the SC-ST law, Shah dubbed all the allegations by the opposition as "baseless".
"While Make in India is not a mere campaign but a movement for building the country, Congress is running a campaign of breaking India. Congress has identified itself with breaking groups," he said.
The BJP President also hit out at former Finance Minister P Chidambaram for being critical of the economic achievements of the government. He asked the party cadres to apprise themselves of the facts on economy and challenge "PC and his company" on the issue.
He listed the achievements of the government on the economic front and said whatever good work done by the government including the yet-to-be launched Ayushman Bharat scheme, inreased MSP for farmers and constitutional status for the Backward Classes Commission should be taken to the people.
Shah picked on the urban naxal issue in the context of the recent arrest of alleged Maoist sympathisers and said the Congress was raking up the issue for its vote bank politics. He hailed Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the police action against urban naxals.
Dealing with the controversial issue of National Register of Citizens, he said the BJP would move forward with strong determination to implement it. Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and Jains in neighbouring countries who seek refugee status will be given shelter without hesitation.
Referring to the triple talaq issue, he said even many Islamic countries have cleared legislations on the subject and was not an issue there. "But here due to the hypocritical stand of the Congress, the bill is stuck in Rajya Sabha. We want to get this bill passed."
Earlier, the meeting deferred organisational elections till after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which will enable Shah to continue in the top post and lead the party in the general elections.
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36 ex-judges slam Opposition move to impeach Justice Swaminathan
New Delhi (PTI): Thirty-six former judges on Saturday gave a call to people, including parliamentarians, to denounce opposition leaders' move to impeach Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan, saying such an attempt, if allowed to proceed, would cut at the very roots of democracy and independence of the judiciary.
On December 1, Justice Swaminathan held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy Temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the Deepathoon, in addition to the customary lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam.
The single-judge bench said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community.
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The order sparked a row, and on December 9, several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of the judge.
Taking serious exception to the move, the former judges in a joint statement said this is a "brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society".
"If such an attempt is permitted to proceed, it would cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary," they said.
"We therefore call upon all stakeholders -- Members of Parliament across party lines, members of the Bar, civil society, and citizens at large -- to unequivocally denounce this move and ensure that it is nipped in the bud at the very inception," they added.
The statement emphasised that the judges must remain answerable to their oath and to the Constitution of India, not to "partisan political pressures or ideological intimidation".
"The message from all constitutional stakeholders must be clear and firm: in a republic governed by the rule of law, judgments are tested by appeals and legal critique, and not by threats of impeachment for political nonconformity," it said.
The statement was signed by former Supreme Court judge Krishn Murari J as well as ex-chief justices and former judges of different high courts.
The statement said the opposition party's move is not an "isolated aberration". It fits into a "clear and deeply troubling pattern" in India's recent constitutional history, where sections of the political class have sought to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary whenever outcomes do not align with their interests, it added.
"The unprecedented bid in 2018 to initiate impeachment proceedings against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the sustained campaigns of vilification directed at Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, S A Bobde and D Y Chandrachud while they were in office," the statement noted.
"The targeted attacks now being mounted against the incumbent CJI, Justice Surya Kant, whenever a judgment/remark displeases a political constituency, are all manifestations of the same trend," it said.
"This is not principled, reasoned criticism of judicial decisions; it is an attempt to weaponise impeachment and public calumny as instruments of pressure -- a practice that strikes at the heart of judicial independence and the basic norms of constitutional democracy," the statement added.
