Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the residence of CJI DY Chandrachud and Ms Kalpana Das to participate in Ganesh Chaturthi Puja at the invitation of Chief Justice of India Shri DY Chandrachud. They went to his house and participated in the Ganpati puja and aarti.
This is the first time since India’s independence that the Chief Justice of India has invited a Prime Minister to his house for worship and the Prime Minister, accepting his invitation, not only went to his house but also went there and worshipped Lord Ganpati.
By the way, there is nothing wrong in this, Ganpati festival is going on, both the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice are Hindus and they have every right to follow their religion and they also worship together.
But some people say it’s not good. Most of the judges never make family relations with the people and the people in power, because they have to give justice, if the judges come in front of the public in such a mix with the government, then people have doubts about their impartiality and neutrality, their past decisions or the upcoming decisions, no matter how correct they are, if they define the policy of the government or its move, then people feel that the judge has given this decision to maintain his friendship. In our country, many judges are either made members of the Rajya Sabha or are made the chairman of a high government commission, which gives the message to the public that because they gave decisions in the interest of the government, the government has given them a good gift after retirement.
That is why some people say that this is a sign of a serious threat to Indian democracy. The incident raises serious questions on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. Is this the India where the foundation of the Constitution rests on secularism and freedom of justice? The Prime Minister’s participation in a religious event at Justice’s house is not just a ‘religious’ or ‘social’ matter, but there could be many political and institutional motives behind it. “Isn’t the CJI inviting the Prime Minister to a religious worship at his home an affront to the” “judicial dignity” “and” “independence” “that every judge swears by?”
In a secular country, many public interest litigations and cases are being fought in the court in many religious matters. On the other hand, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice are worshiping their religion together, then it becomes necessary for the people of other religions to doubt that justice will not be done to them even if the judges clean up their judgment. The incident points to the deep cracks in the Indian judicial system.
This is not just a matter of religion or tradition, but it is going to tear the fabric of democracy and impartiality of the judiciary. In a democracy, no one can stop the institutions which the Constitution has given the responsibility of maintaining free and fair, from coming so close to each other and openly in front of the public, whenever the decisions will be in the interest of the government or in the interest of Hindus in the case of other religions.