Tag: mkatju

Justice Markandey Katju: India’s post-election scenario

News, Spotlight April 24, 2024April 24, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: I am convinced that BJP’s seats in the Lok Sabha will considerably reduce when the Lok Sabha election results are declared on June 4. At present, BJP has 303 seats, and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 353, out of the 543 elected seats in the House. The BJP is likely to go down to 200-210, and the NDA to about 240-250. The opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc should get around the same number of seats as the NDA. It looks as if a coalition government would have to be formed by either.

Justice Markandey Katju: Modi’s hate speech has crossed all limits of decency

News, Spotlight April 22, 2024April 23, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: Politicians want to attain and retain power. One can therefore understand their political compulsions when they give passionate speeches to attract votes. But then, everything has a limit, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi crossed all limits last weekend when he gave a speech in Banswara, Rajasthan spouting venom against Indian Muslims, bringing the nation’s political discourse to a new low.

Justice Markandey Katju: The historical significance of the 2024 Indian election

News, Spotlight April 21, 2024April 23, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: The 2024 Indian election may lay the groundwork for a people’s struggle led by patriotic modern minded leaders to arise in India. This struggle will be long and arduous, probably lasting 10-15 years, in which tremendous sacrifices will have to be made, before tasting success. By itself, the current election will have no immediate impact on the lives of the people, but its significance lies in the fact the process of India’s transformation into a modern, highly-industrialized state by a mighty people’s struggle will have begun.

Justice Markandey Katju: The judgment that changed India from a secular nation to a Hindu state

News, Spotlight April 16, 2024April 17, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: By his judgment in Manohar Joshi vs Bhaurao Patil In 1995, Justice JS Verma practically amended the Indian Constitution, and by another ‘sleight of hand’ (he had used the same technique in the earlier judges case) converted India from a secular to a Hindu state. The conversion of India from a de jure secular to a de facto Hindu state can be attributed largely to that judgment.

The baba bound society

Justice Markandey Katju, Spotlight April 12, 2024April 12, 2024 indica

These days a celebrated self-acclaimed yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, the founder of Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar, and has built up a financial empire with an annual turnover of Rs 45,000 crore[$6 Billion] selling fake medicines (claiming to cure cancer, corona, barrenness among women, etc without clinical trials as required by law ) is in the Indian news, after the Supreme Court’s strong critical remarks.

Justice Markandey Katju: The formula to make India mighty and great again

News, Spotlight April 12, 2024April 12, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: With our huge pool of technical talent and immense natural resources India (in which I include Pakistan and Bangladesh, for we are really one country, only artificially and temporarily divided) should be today a mighty industrial giant, like the US or China, with our people enjoying a standard of living equal, if not higher than most of the developed nations in the world.

Justice Markandey Katju: How I united Indian politicians

News, Spotlight April 9, 2024April 10, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: In 2015, a Muslim man named Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched in Bisahda village near Dadri, Gautam Buddhanagar district in Uttar Pradesh. Why? Because a mob suspected him of eating beef and beat him to death. I was invited to a panel discussion by TV journalist Barkha Dutt (then with NDTV), along with four politicians — Sanjeev Balyan and Sudhanshu Mittal of the BJP, Naved Siddiqui of the Samajwadi Party, and Ajoy Kumar from the Congress. There was also writer Tavleen Singh, a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Santosh Desai, a marketing expert and newspaper columnist.

Justice Markandey Katju: Congress manifesto makes empty promises

News, Spotlight April 8, 2024April 8, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: On Friday, April 5, the Congress party released its election manifesto — Nyaya Patra — for the upcoming Indian parliamentary elections (April 19-June 1, seven phases). The results are to be declared on June 4. As expected, the manifesto promises the moon. You can read the highlights are here and here. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said it will change India. However, everyone knows that election promises mean nothing.

Justice Markandey Katju: The history of the non-Kashmiri speaking Kashmiri Pandits

News, Spotlight April 7, 2024April 7, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: On April 6, the Kashmiri Pandits Association, an association of the non-Kashmiri speaking Kashmiri Pandits, (Kashmiri speaking Kashmiri Pandits have their own association called All India Kashmiri Samaj), held a function in Delhi to honor me and Anita Mulla, the daughter of the heroic Indian Navy Captain MN Mulla who went down with his ship Kukri in the war against Pakistan.

Justice Markandey Katju: Join the BJP and cleanse yourself of all sins

News, Spotlight April 4, 2024April 5, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: Politicians from India’s opposition parties have been signing up for a BJP membership in droves of late (the latest is Sanjay Nirupam of Congress). This has accelerated after the arrests of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Party leaders, and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. These cut across party lines and states, and almost all got a reprieve on entering the BJP ‘washing machine’ and became as pure as the driven snow.

Justice Markandey Katju: The role of women in the judiciary

News, Spotlight April 1, 2024April 2, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: I was motivated to write this article by the judgments and speeches of Justice BV Nagarathna, judge of the Indian Supreme Court, who is in line to become the Chief Justice of India in 2027. I greatly admire her, and not just because she dissented from the majority judges more than three times since her elevation to the Supreme Court (in my opinion, correctly).

Justice Markandey Katju: Long live Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui

News, Spotlight March 28, 2024March 29, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui was a senior judge of the Islamabad High Court in Pakistan. In course of time he would have become its Chief Justice by dint of seniority, and then possibly a judge of the Pakistan Supreme Court. But in 2018, he gave a speech to the Rawalpindi district court bar association in which he said that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of the Pakistan army was interfering with the independence of the judiciary by pressuring it to give verdicts it wanted.

Justice Markandey Katju: The closure of Madarsas in Uttar Pradesh

News, Spotlight March 27, 2024March 27, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: The Allahabad High Court, in its March 22 verdict, declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 to be unconstitutional, being against the principle of secularism. I agree with the verdict that Madarsa education violates the constitutional principle of secularism. It also violates Article 21A of the Indian Constitution which declares the right to get education up to the age of 14 a fundamental right.

Justice Markandey Katju: Democracy in India is a ghost, you can’t murder it

News March 25, 2024March 26, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: The Aam Admi Party has termed the arrest of its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, the “Murder of democracy in India.” AAP leaders have called for a nationwide protest, and some protests have already taken place. Opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerji, Akhilesh Yadav, Shashi Tharoor, etc, and a section of the media too are shouting themselves hoarse that Kejriwal’s arrest amounts to the murder of democracy in India.

Justice Markandey Katju: An appeal to Pakistanis and Bangladeshis for Holi

News, Spotlight March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: Holi, the festival of colors, is on March 25 this year, and I appeal to Pakistanis and Bangladeshis of all communities to celebrate it. Before 1857, Hindus would participate in Eid and Muharram, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali together, and there were no communal feelings among them. There were no communal riots or animosity till that time.

Justice Markandey Katju: India’s immigration policies must have humanitarian considerations

News, Spotlight March 21, 2024March 22, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: The Indian Government recently notified the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). The CAA gives fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. Critics of the CAA say that the exclusion of Muslims from those who will get its benefit is discriminatory, and hence violative of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

Justice Markandey Katju: Why are Afghans and Pakistanis fighting each other

News, Spotlight March 19, 2024March 21, 2024 indica

Justice Markandey Katju writes: News has come that the Pakistanis and the Afghans are fighting each other. These fools should be helping each other instead of fighting. Both are poor; their real enemy is poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, price rise, lack of healthcare and good education, etc. If they had any sense they should join hands, pool their resources, and launch a mighty historical united struggle, along with Indians, to eliminate these real common enemies.