'Damage control': Congress slams BJP after it distances itself from MPs' criticism of Supreme Court

New Delhi: Intensifying the attack on the BJP over attacks on Supreme Court by its two MPs, Congress on Sunday described JP Nadda’s post dissociating with the controversial remarks as “damage control” while seeking action by the saffron party and Supreme Court against Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma.

The party claimed that the remarks were part of BJP’s continuing attack on the Constitution and also referred to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s remarks against the Supreme Court without naming him.

Senior MP and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said Speaker Om Birla and the Supreme Court should initiate action against them while senior MP Mukul Wasnik, also a General Secretary, said minimum action against them should be their expulsion from their party though all know that “no action will be taken”.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “continued silence” and asked if it was not tacitly supportive of the two MPs, why has no action been taken against them. “Has Nadda-ji issued show-cause notices to these two MPs?” he asked.

Both Dubey and Sharma attacked the Supreme Court against the backdrop of some court decisions going against the union government and said Parliament should be shut if the apex court is making laws. As a controversy erupted, Nadda issued a statement on ‘X’ distancing the party from the remarks.

Venugopal told reporters that the BJP was trying to intimidate the Supreme Court and it is a “brazen” attack on the Constitution. Nadda's remarks were part of a “face-saving” exercise, he said.

“When those in high offices lecture the Judiciary on restraint, it’s not advice—it is intimidation. This is not a debate, it’s a warning shot. A blatant attempt to scare, silence, and subvert,” Venugopal said.

“These statements are coming from the very people who are always at the forefront to defend the BJP's authoritarianism and disastrous policies. The BJP leadership's denial is nothing but face-saving—because let’s be honest, the mask slipped and the real intention walked out waving,” he said.

Ramesh said the distancing of the outgoing BJP President from the “atrocious” remarks made by two BJP MPs on the Chief Justice of India carries “little meaning”, as these MPs are “repeat offenders” when it comes to hate speech.

He claimed they are “very often used by G2 (in apparent reference to Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah) to attack communities, institutions, and individuals. The outgoing BJP President's clarification is nothing but damage control. It will fool nobody. This is Entire Political Science reflecting itself as Entire Political Hypocrisy.”

In apparent reference to Dhankhar's attack on the Supreme Court, he said Nadda is “totally silent on equally unacceptable remarks” on the judiciary that are continually made by one of its “very distinguished appointees to a high Constitutional position. What does he have to say about these remarks? Does the BJP subscribe to them?”

Wasnik, also a General Secretary, said the minimum action against the BJP MPs is to expel them from the party. "But will the BJP’s outgoing president go beyond merely warning the MPs? We know that no action will be taken," he added.