Cong not to support govt over NJAC

Latching on to the apex court observation that democracy could still be subverted, the Congress on Saturday dropped enough hints that it would oppose the Modi government’s attempts to scrap the collegium system on appointments to higher judiciary all over again.

“You have to forget the past and look ahead....the way forward is to realise that there is a trust deficit as far as this government is concerned,” AICC spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

The ruling BJP was quick to remind the Congress that it had supported the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill along with all other parties in Parliament. Approaching the NJAC issue from a political viewpoint is “absolutely wrong” as it was a decision for the appointment of the judiciary, it said.

Justice J S Khehar, who headed the Constitution Bench that struck down the NJAC, had cited BJP veteran L K Advani’s remarks that democracy could still be subverted to bring back Emergency-like situation while delivering his judgment on Friday.

In an apparent reference to the Dadri lynching and the eminent authors returning their awards, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the developments have “raised concerns nationally and globally about the future of our parliamentary democracy and the Constitution, particularly of free and full enjoyment of constitutional guarantees and fundamental rights.”

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit back at the Congress. “As far as the Congress is concerned, they are habitual hypocrites. It is astonishing that they are bringing the matter of the Sahitya Akademi award winners into the NJAC issue. It is absolutely appalling and shows the mental bankruptcy of the Congress,” Patra said.