Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge issued a sharp response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after hundreds of lawyers penned a letter to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and PM Modi targetted the Congress over it. Kharge, in his social media post, called PM Modi out for “manipulating democracy” and “bullying institution after institution” into submission.

Responding to PM Modi’s ‘vintage Congress culture remark, Mallikarjun Kharge said on X, “PM Narendra Modi ji, You are talking about Judiciary. You conveniently forget that 4 senior-most Supreme Court judges were forced to hold an unprecedented press conference and warn against ‘destruction of Democracy’. That happened under your regime.”

“One of the judges was nominated by your Government to the Rajya Sabha. So who wants a ‘committed judiciary’? You forget that your party has fielded a former HC Judge in West Bengal for the current Lok Sabha elections. Why was this candidature bestowed on him,” he asked the prime minister.

Posing four questions for PM Modi, Kharge further said, “Why did you bring down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), that was struck down by the Supreme Court?”

“Modi ji, Institution after Institution is being ‘bullied’ by you into submission, so stop pinning the blame on the Congress party, for your own sins! You have mastered the art of manipulating Democracy and hurting the Constitution,” he said in his response.

PM Modi’s remarks on letter to the CJI

After 600 lawyers signed a letter penned to CJI Chandrachud over the pressure put on judiciary by “vested interest group”, PM Modi wrote on X that it is “vintage Congress culture” to browbeat and bully others.

PM Modi said on social media, “To browbeat and bully others is vintage Congress culture. 5 decades ago itself they had called for a ‘committed judiciary’ – they shamelessly want commitment from others for their selfish interests but desist from any commitment towards the nation.”

Soon after his remarks, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that PM Modi’s “brazenness in orchestrating and coordinating an attack on the judiciary, in the name of defending the judiciary, is the height of hypocrisy!”

Ramesh said, “The Supreme Court has delivered body blows to him in recent weeks. The Electoral Bonds Scheme is but one example. The Supreme Court declared them to be unconstitutional — and it is now proved beyond doubt that they were a blatant instrument of fear, blackmail, and intimidation to force companies to donate to the BJP.”