Heading Towards a Theocratic Judiciary?
Heading Towards a Theocratic Judiciary?
Heading Towards a Theocratic Judiciary?
[AN OPEN INFORMAL LETTER TO MR.
DHANANJAYA YESHWANT CHANDRACHUD
CHANDRACHUD]
Posted on 13th September, 2024 (GMT01.29 hrs)
ABSTRACT
The article criticizes India’s Chief Justice, D.Y. Chandrachud, for publicly participating in religious rituals with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arguing that this compromises the separation between the judiciary and the executive. It raises concerns about the increasing influence of Hindu nationalism in the judiciary, questioning its impact on the country’s secular constitution. The author also points to selective judicial actions and calls for maintaining scientific temper and critical inquiry as per the constitutional mandate. The overall tone expresses frustration with the blending of theocratic regime.
Dear Mr. D.Y. Chandrachud,
We are bewildered, perplexed, vexed and upset after viewing the video of your Ganapati puppet worship along with Mr. Narendra Modi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZCgpQmN2L8
Row erupts over PM Modi visiting CJI’s home for Ganesh Puja VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 13th September, 2024 ©The Hindustan Times)
As it is your private space, we are not mentioning/addressing your and PM chairs’ official designation following the colonial rituals at the stage of judiciary–rather we are hypothetically considering you as our fellow citizen or as a mitra or friend following the oft-quoted definition:
उत्सवे व्यसने चैव दुर्भिक्षे राष्ट्रविप्लवे।
राजद्वारे श्मशाने च यः तिष्ठति सः बान्धवः।।
With such anticipation (bhanita, gourcadrika), let us back to the point of our immediate concern.
We, with some of our fellow citizens, have observed that:
(a) the threshold between the private and public spaces is blurred in this particular performance of yours along with Mr. Modi;
(b) the dividing line amidst the so-called “neutral” judiciary and the political executive is also infringed upon through the said act;
(c) the Article 51(A)h of our constitution is at stake for such a publicized ritual.
Former Justice Krishna Iyer, as we know, performed these types of rituals in his personal capacity without spending or using public money or publicized exposure. Even our first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, was requested by our first Prime Minister Pt. Nehru to not to attend the Somnath Temple inauguration as a President.
We completely agree with the noted Indian Lawyer Indira Jaising in this regard⤡, as she said:
“Chief Justice of India has compromised the separation of powers between the Executive and Judiciary. Lost all confidence in the independence of the CJI . The SCBA must condemn this publicly displayed compromise of Independence of the CJI from the Executive.”
Another Eminent Lawyer cum activist Mr. Prashant Bhushan wrote on X:
“Code of Conduct for Judges: “A Judge Should practice a degree of aloofness consistent with the dignity of his office. There should be no act or omission by him which is unbecoming of the high office he occupies and the public esteem in which that office is held” Violation of Code.” VIEW HERE ⤡
He also opined:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K43jESL2m0
Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) also condemns this event:
“…[d]eep concern over the manner and conduct of this event involving two constitutional functionaries, as setting an unwarranted precedent…“ such close association between the judiciary and political leadership undermines the ability of the judiciary to impartially adjudicate cases involving the government and the ruling political party”.
However, you may have followed the path of Mr. Gogoi, who signed the controversial and ridiculous (we are using this term as a part of our minor non-violent civil disobedience movement. However, we must call spade a spade) Ram Temple verdict⤡ to get a post-retirement job. Are you also (probably) hankering after such similar rewards after your retirement in forthcoming November 2024, or are you concerned about your own and your family’s safety in these worrying times of bigotry, i.e., are you being threatened by the Mo-Shah gang, which has the past record of allegedly harassing, stalking and monitoring the actions of a certain female person in the alleged Snoopgate scam (not to talk about Gujarat pogrom 2002!!!???)? Are you trying to avoid the fate suffered by Justice Loya for his involvement in the contentious Sohrabuddin case by means of performing such religious rituals in the company of Mr. Modi?
Moreover, how can the PM (as a constitutionally ordained chair) of a distinctively and declaredly secular state participate in such religious rituals? It seems to us that the Article 51(A)h that upholds the scientific temper and a spirit of relentless inquiry is in oblivion through such idolatrous practices, and so is the irreligious spirit of the Indian nation-state. If the PM is 24X7 on duty (as was revealed through our RTI⤡), how can he promote and participate one religion like this multiple times? What would be your stand with regard to the multiple violations of the Model Code of Conduct done by the incumbent PM just before the 2024 elections in a likewise manner⤡? You, as a guardian and protector of the secular constitution of India, must take stern measures against such involvements. Privately, you and Mr. Modi might be heathens and the same is not problematic in terms of your freedom of opinion and religion, but that very act of puppet-worship as distributed widely through media channels entails the consolidation of the fascistic Hindu Rāṣṭra. It would be a dangerous signal for the future generations that would prevent them from fulfilling the critical scientific inquisitiveness that encourages Paripraśna (The Gītā 4.34) of argumentative intellectual engagement imbibed by the Constitution of India. It also hampers the temperament of South-East Asian Philosophical schools that treat agnihotrādikarma as being inferior to the enlightening Jñānamārga. Furthermore, your idolatrous leanings might as well be reflected onto your judgements, and the same would set worrying precedents in defying the non-religious philosophy of jurisprudence as well as the core constitutional values.
We have observed previously how you made public visits to Hindu temples in a saffron-clad attire with media exposure and have praised the Hindu ethos openly through your statements at a time when the Hindutvādī terrorism is taking a huge toll on the lives and liberties of religious minorities, women and Dalits. We have written to you on these issues on earlier occasions, but have not got any reply from you in defense of your stand as the present CJI. (Please note that we are differentiating between the umbrella-term “Hindu” and the militant violent Hindutvavāda, who are spreading hatred against a particular community following Fascist mood.)
Moreover, you have justifiably taken suo moto cognizance on the heinous R. G. Kar rape-and-murder case, but have failed to do the same with regard to the cases of Bilkis Bano, Asifa, Unnao, Hathras, the allegations against Brij Bhushan Singh made by the protesting female wrestlers, Prajwal Revanna’s diplomatic passport, the Maharashtra rapes and still many others….(India reported 86 cases of rapes daily on an average between 2017 and 2022) Why do not you club all these rape-cases in India as part of your suo-moto drives instead of being so selective in your endeavours? We have asked the same question to a non-registered organization’s Sarsanghchalak:
Getting back to your “Ganpati Bappa” worship with Mr. Modi, we must recall that Mr. Modi made a statement that Lord Ganesha’s elephant-head was an instance of “plastic surgery” in the “Sanātana Bhāratata”, and we nominated him for the Ig Nobel prize for these types of pseudo-scientific and anti-historical statements⤡, though he had already got an Ig Nobel for medical education in 2020! (this great event has not been publicized like other activities of Mr. Modi.)
Narendra Modi relates stem-cell and plastic surgery to our age old science VIEW HERE ⤡
If you are leaning towards the appeasement of Hindutvavadins like this, activists or journalists, who are unjustly arrested without trial will never be able to get justice within your regime. The DHFL Victims, who have been financially raped by the RBI-appointed CoC and by the BJP’s close crony tycoon Mr. Piramal, (secondary kin of Mr. Mukesh Ambani) as it is closely related to the ruling party⤡, will also never get their well-deserved justice, for which they previously appealed to you through an online mass petition⤡.
Remembering the 1995 mass hysteric episode of superstitious “Ganesa drinking milk Miracle” (which is nothing more than an effect of surface tension and syphon as well), we urge you to stay true to the lineage of judicial irreligiosity, argumentative rationality and a spirit of democratic merciless criticism in praxis without lending aid to the utterly theocratic project of violent exclusivist militant and violent Hindutva as it is being expressed in contemporary India.
Yours hypothetically,
A few Helpless (probably as we are waiting for CAA, NPR, NRC) Indian Citizens:
Dr. Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay,
Mrs. Rupa Bandyopadhyay,
Mr. Akhar Bandyopadhyay
On Behalf of Once in a Blue Moon Academia (OBMA, a non-registered organization. The RSS does not have registration also)
बहुजनहिताय बहुजनसुखाय च॥
(“For the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many”)
APPENDIX
GANAPATIS AND VINAYAKAS
Once upon a time, “Gaṇapatis” (please note the plural numbers), “Vināyakas“, “Gaṇeśvaras” were considered as “catastrophe incarnate” (until fifth century BC as per recorded history). Gṛhya Sūtras also maintained the evil or obstacle-creating spirits of the Gaṇeśa. Yājñavalkya spoke that Vināyaka was appointed by Rudra and Brahmā to create impediments. Later on, “Gaṇeśa” was perceived as vighna-nāśaka (preventer of catastrophe) instead of vighna-kāraka (agent of catastrophe).
Without knowing this history of evolving Gaṇeśas archetypes, subscribing to and/or talking about the sanātana dharma appears to be an utterly injudicious enterprise.
SOURCE: Chattopadhyaya, D. (1995). Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism. People’s Publishing House, pp. 130-135.
In the ethereal tapestry of Satyajit Ray’s classic film Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road; 1955), one scene unfurls like a haunting elegy, where the tender soul of young Durga succumbs to the throes of an untimely illness leading to her demise. As the tempest outside rages in concert with the fragility of life, a small idol of Gaṇeśa trembles upon its pedestal. The storm seems to echo the trembling uncertainty of mortal existence itself. Each shudder of the Gaṇeśa idol reflects the cosmic dance between mortality, destruction and divinity, as the winds outside wail like ancient laments, heralding the inevitable passage from life to death-consciousness. Thus, Gaṇeśa is here associated with the catastrophic, raging nature according to Ray’s gaze, who himself declared himself as an agnostic, keeping in mind his non-idolatrous Brāhmo grooming.
SEE ALSO:
SATYAJIT RAY: A DISSENTER SUBSUMED BY RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS?VIEW HERE ⤡
SATYAJIT RAY’S ARS EROTICA AT THE TIME OF HINDUTVA VIEW HERE ⤡
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