TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday hit out at DY Chandrachud, former chief justice of India, for his recent statement that the judiciary is here to “scrutinize laws” and that people should not presume it will fulfill the role of the opposition in Parliament or state legislatures.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mahua expressed her disapproval of Chandrachud’s remarks, stating, “We didn’t expect you to do the Opposition’s job.”
“No, Chief Justice DYC—we didn’t expect you to do the Opposition’s job. We expected you to do your job and uphold our Constitution and laws. Not throw out the Places of Worship Act 1991 and allow every mosque to be dug up by every Sanghi judge. Shame!” she said.
Mahua’s attack on the former CJI came a day after an Ajmer court issued notices to three parties—the Dargah Committee, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and the Ministry of Minority Affairs—in response to a petition claiming that a Shiva temple exists inside the Ajmer Dargah.
What Ex-CJI Chandrachud had said:
Responding to a statement by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who claimed that the Opposition has taken on the judiciary’s role, former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud clarified that the judiciary’s role is to “scrutinize laws” and not act as the opposition in Parliament or state legislatures. In an exclusive interview with ., he emphasised that democracy reserves a distinct space for political opposition. “I don’t wish to engage directly with the Leader of the Opposition, but I must clarify—people should not assume that the judiciary is meant to perform the role of the Opposition in legislative bodies. There’s often a misconception that we are here to do that, but our focus is on scrutinizing laws,” he explained.
