Congress fumes at ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi for supporting Delhi Services Bill

Congress Rajya Sabha MP K.C Venugopal on Monday fumed at the remarks of former Chief Justice of India and nominated Rajya Sabha member Ranjan Gogoi as he backed the Delhi Services Bill in the Parliament.

Venugopal said that it is shocking that he questioned the jurisprudence of the basic structure of the Constitution and questioned if this is BJP’s trick to begin the full-fledged dismantling of the Constitution.

In a tweet, Venugopal said, “Shocking that a former CJI questions the jurisprudence of the basic structure of the Constitution. Is this the BJP's trick to begin the full-fledged dismantling of the Constitution of India? Does it think that democracy, equality, secularism, federalism, judicial independence are all 'debatable' ideas?”

“Not surprising that those who have no regard for constitutional principles are now propping up a former CJI with a ‘debatable’ track record to begin their attack on the Constitution through this very dangerous throwaway line,” Congress leader said.

“What is Gogoi's argument? Is he saying that there is nothing called the basic structure that should be protected? Does the Government endorse this Arjun Ram Meghwal? They must categorically oppose this line of thought, or it will be clear that the BJP has now started a process to destroy the core tenets of our Constitution,” Venugopal added.

His remarks came after Gogoi, who made his first remarks in the Rajya Sabha on Monday said that the matter is not sub judice and what is pending before the Supreme Court is the validity of the ordinance.

Speaking in favour of the contentious bill to replace the ordinance on transfers and postings of senior officers in the Delhi government, Gogoi said the Parliament has power to legislate on the issue and there was no question of overreach. He said the Bill provides for a ‘diluted form of federalism’ because Delhi is a Union Territory.

"It is an asymmetrical federalism. Does it violate any other part of the Constitution?" he said.

He also said the Bill is perfectly legitimate and he fully supports the Bill.

“If you want full fledged federalism (for Delhi), you can go for an amendment and make Delhi a full-fledged state,” Gogoi said, adding that the most important thing is that Article 239 (AA) is not under challenge and in my view, the Bill is perfectly, legitimately valid.

Meanwhile, the INDIA MPs including Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, NCP’s Vandana Chavan, Trinmool Congress’ Sushmita Dev staged a walk out of Rajya Sabha protesting Gogoi’s maiden speech over the sexual harassment charges against him.