Spoke the then leader's language: Khushbu Sundar on Cong picking her for old tweet against PM Modi
Bengaluru, Mar 25: Targeted by the Congress over her 2018 tweet criticial of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP leader Khushbu Sundar on Saturday hit back at the opposition party saying she was speaking the "language of the leader" then as she was told to do so and questioned its 'desperation.'
She has not deleted the five year-old social media post and will not do so now, she said.
Congress picking on her in the wake of party leader Rahul Gandhi's Modi surname remarks that led to a Surat local court convicting him and him being disqualified as a Lok Sabha member, Sundar said it exposed how desperate the opposition party was.
The 2018 tweet of the National Commission for Women (NCW) member has gone viral and she has not deleted the post.
Sundar, also BJP national executive committee member who had quit the Congress party and joined the saffron organisation in 2020 had posted a tweet in 2018 saying "...Let's change the meaning of #Modi to corruption..suits better."
Explaining the tweet, Khushbu said "I was in Congress party then and I was only performing my duty as the spokesperson of the Congress. This is the language we were supposed to speak and that is exactly what I was doing. I was following the party leader. This is his language."
"Not only does it show how desperate they (Congress party) are, but it exposes their level of ignorance on the issue they are raking up," she told PTI.
In the wake of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification over his equating the surname Modi to "thieves" the party was quick to pick on Khushbu's old tweet.
Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi via a Twitter post on Saturday morning, "will you make one of your disciples named Modi file a defamation case against Khushbu Sundar too?"
"I have never deleted any of the tweets on my timeline and I will not do so now," Sundar said.
She asked "what are the Congress leaders trying to do by picking on me? Are they equating me to Rahul Gandhi?"
Asked if she saw nothing wrong in insulting the 'Modi' surname, she said, "Rahul Gandhi has stooped down to the level calling all Modis as thieves, I have only used the term 'Corruption'. The Congress party is incapable of seeing the difference. But if they have the guts, I challenge the Congress leaders to file a case against me and I will face them legally."
Sundar also pointed out that the Congress Party never liked her appreciating the positive steps taken by the ruling BJP. "Whether it was the Triple Talaq, Abrogation of Article 370 or the launch of the New Education Policy (NEP), the Congress party always had a problem when I tweeted appreciations," she recalled.
An actor who has acted in over 100 films, Khushbu Sundar initially joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and then switched over to the Congress party before joining the BJP.
I will not delete my tweet. It’s out there. There are many more. Pls use your time, as CONgress is absolutely jobless, to dig out a few more. BTW I like to see how the CONgress is putting me and @RahulGandhi on the same platform. I like the fact that I have earned enough name n…
— KhushbuSundar (@khushsundar) March 25, 2023
How more desperate can they be!! A 5 yr old tweet is what now @INCIndia is taking to defend themselves? I as a spokesperson for the CONgress than was speaking the same language of @RahulGandhi . Just followed the line of this man. Why raise a question to my party? File a case on…
— KhushbuSundar (@khushsundar) March 25, 2023
BJP leader Khushbu Sundar says Hie to all corrupt Modi's ✋✋
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) March 25, 2023
But there is neither a defamation suit nor any punishment after a dip in the BJP's washing machine. pic.twitter.com/CjmKhFdpWC
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SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
