The Hindu : BJP demolishing constitutional bodies, says Opposition

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 02, 2003

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BJP demolishing constitutional bodies, says Opposition

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG 1. Major Opposition parties today criticised the BJP for what they called its "perverted mentality" in systematically demolishing Constitutional institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

They were reacting to the BJP's statement that the NHRC moving the Supreme Court for a retrial in the Best Bakery case was "wrong and unprecedented" and that it would be "dangerous" for the country's federal structure. At a press conference, the BJP spokesman, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, accused the NHRC of "doing nothing" in the Marad incident in Kerala where eight persons were killed. He charged that the Kerala Government did not pursue it vigorously.

He said 94 per cent of the cases in the courts ended up in acquittal and that during the 1985-92 Congress regime about "400 incidents of communal riots" had occurred in Gujarat.

In the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi witnesses were "bought". In Punjab, the Akali Dal were charging that they would not get justice and in Bihar also there were similar allegations. "But this does not mean that all cases should be transferred out of that particular State. In the Best Bakery case, the NHRC's move is not correct. The NHRC Chairman is appealing against his own order which he gave as the Supreme Court Chief Justice," Mr. Malhotra said.

While the Left parties rapped the BJP for showing scant regard for the NHRC, the Congress warned the BJP leaders that they were not "free to humiliate" bodies such as the NHRC which had Constitutional backing.

The CPI (M) leader, Somnath Chatterjee, said at a briefing that the way the BJP leaders, including its general secretary, were attacking the NHRC reflected their "utter disregard" for a statutory body. "The BJP leaders are saying things about the NHRC which are totally derogatory and contemptuous. They are denigrating it."

Neither the Prime Minister nor the Deputy Prime Minister had admonished their partymen who were "abusing the NHRC openly. Is it possible that this country will be governed by the rule of law?"

The CPI national executive welcomed the NHRC move and said it was actuated by the "extraordinary situation created in Gujarat under the BJP-VHP dispensation and to prevent miscarriage of justice".

The Congress spokesperson, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, said the BJP was "heaping insults" on Constitutional institutions such as the NHRC.

"The BJP's statements have shown that the party was humiliating statutory bodies like the NHRC as part of a well-planned and systematic attack. It has done so in the recent past in respect of SC/ST Commission, the Election Commission, the National Commission for Women, the Central Vigilance Commission, the Public Affairs Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor-General."

Referring to the BJP's charge that the NHRC was "anti-Hindu", he said the BJP-RSS leadership was consistently insulting Constitutional bodies. "In attacking the NHRC, the BJP has crossed all limits of decency. This shows the party's perverted mentality," he said.

Mr. Chaturvedi said the NHRC had not transgressed its jurisdiction.

"The judicial process has been hijacked in Gujarat. The BJP itself is interfering in judicial process and it will not be possible to ensure an unbiased trial in Gujarat in an atmosphere of terror."

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