There were many examples of High Court and Supreme Court judges becoming Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Legislative Assembly members representing various political parties. But now when a former judge joined the BJP the talks of political morality came up, forgetting the history of judges shuttling between judiciary and politics. Let us remember Justice Baharul Islam and Justice V R Krishna Iyer. BJP saw leaders coming in from almost all parties since the Vajpayee era, but now mostly from the Congress. Moving with the political wind and changes in the political landscape is not a forbidden act in a democracy. It happened regularly and unstoppably. After Narendra Modi came to power, politicians moving to the BJP fold from almost all parties, including AAP and the Left, came to the media limelight. If once the most trusted Indira, Rajiv and Sonia loyalists were tempted to join the BJP, who else in the Congress or other parties could have resisted it under the fast-changing political ecosystem?
Election heat brings with it the stories of political loyalty switching from one to another, but not as spontaneous as the flow we see these days towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Loyalty shift reflects the bellwether on the ground, though it is a heart-burning issue for one side. Those who lose leaders and cadres will find non-existent political morality out of political frustration. Judges joining the BJP after resigning or retiring becomes an issue of morality as if it never happened in history. History with the worst examples of blatant political-judiciary nexus that existed in India in the 70’s and 80’s remains buried. Nevertheless, each debate on leaders and former judges joining the BJP opens up historical examples.
Whether they were former Congress leaders, including former cabinet ministers, former chief ministers, their sons and daughters, official party spokespersons or other party leaders, changing political sides they resorted to was nothing but what used to happen in history. Some of them even became Chief Ministers. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam, came from the Congress. Former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai’s father S R Bommai was Chief Minister of Karnataka representing the erstwhile Janata Party. Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna’s father was once a top Congress leader H N Bahuguna. Vijay Bahuguna’s son is now a BJP MLA in Uttarakhand. His sister Rita Bahuguna, who was once the Congress candidate for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister joined the BJP in 2016. Now, she is a BJP MP from Prayagraj (former Allahabad).
Leaders like N D Tiwari, V C Shukla, S.M Krishna, Captain Amarinder Singh and Digambar Kamat are some of the examples of former Congress Chief Ministers who joined the BJP. Except for Amarinder Singh and Digambar Kamath, all were not only former Congress chief ministers but also cabinet ministers in the Congress governments. Even those like Jagadamika Pal of Uttar Pradesh, who bitterly fought against the BJP and worked hard to topple BJP also joined BJP later. Besides SM Krishna, another former Karnataka chief minister, Bangarappa also had joined the BJP though for a brief period.
One of the early entrants after Modi came to power was Giridhar Gamang, former Chief Minister of Odisha. In 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee faced a vote of confidence and lost by one vote. Gamang, while being a Chief Minister of Odisha came to vote in the parliament against NDA. Sixteen years later he joined the BJP. Last year, he resigned and returned to the Congress as V C Shukla had done. Now those who were once close to Sonia Gandhi also started looking their way out, finding a bleak political future in Congress and difficulty in holding back the truth of changing Bharat.
Besides former Congress chief ministers, their sons and daughters and cabinet ministers, many official spokespersons also joined the BJP. They are all excellent party workers well integrated with the working culture of the BJP. It may be noted that the exodus towards BJP has mostly been from those parties which once considered BJP as untouchable and communal. Of late, the former Calcutta High Court Judge, Abhijit Gangopadhyay joining BJP made political opponents speak about many moral issues.
Judges becoming politicians were also not rare. Some judges were politicians before and after their jobs in the judiciary. Justice V R Krishna Iyer and Justice Baharul Islam were some of the many examples. While Justice Krishna Iyer was a communist, Justice Baharul Islam was an active Congress party leader before and after his job in the judiciary. Judges like Baharul Islam resigned from Rajya Sabha, as Congress representatives to become a High Court judge in Assam, as if that was a political promotion. He was a judge for eight years before his retirement in 1980. After his retirement, he resumed his work as a Congressman. He was lucky again. Soon Indira Gandhi appointed him as a Supreme Court Judge. As a very loyal party worker, he did his best for the party while being a Supreme Court judge. He exonerated Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra from the Patna Urban Cooperative Bank scandal and soon resigned from the Supreme Court to contest the election from Barpeta, Assam. Since the election in that year did not happen in Assam Congress nominated him to Rajya Sabha.
Udaykumar Marar
Comments