Don’t ‘muddle’, Congress tells BJP on SC judges issue

Taking exception to an RSS leader's criticism of Supreme Court judges' move against the Chief Justice, the Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP of attacking judiciary through "RSS functionaries" and told it not to "muddle and polarise" the issue.

"Sad and deplorable! BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) attacks judiciary through RSS functionaries. All the 'Nation' wants is the issues raised by the senior-most judges to be resolved, but for which 'democracy' is in peril. BJP government should help resolution than muddle and polarise," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a tweet.

J Nandakumar, Akhil Bharatiya Sah Boudhik Pramukh of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was reported to have accused the four judges of hatching a "perfect political conspiracy" in a Facebook comment he posted on January 13.

According to news reports, in his post written in Malayalam, Nandakumar questioned the "critical timing" of the judges' press conference and termed it as an attack on the "uncompromising faith of the people in the judicial system" and the judges' of "poisoning the waters".

Supreme Court Justices J Chelameshwar, Ranjan Gogoi, Kurien Joseph and Madan B Lokur, last week on Friday had expressed concerns about the need to protect the institution of the judiciary, raising apprehensions about Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra bypassing the set norms in allocation of cases to benches.