‘What would (Gandhi) have thought of a serving Chief Justice making public visits to temples and getting himself photographed and giving interviews about it in the process?’
Ramachandra Guha, the well-known biographer of Mahatma Gandhi and one of India’s leading political commentators, discusses his articles criticising Chief Justice Chandrachud both for wrongly understanding Mahatma Gandhi and for visiting Hindu temples dressed in saffron robes at this particular point of time.
Though the Chief Justice says he’s been inspired by Gandhi, Guha asks, “What would (Gandhi) have thought of a serving Chief Justice making public visits to temples and getting himself photographed and giving interviews about it in the process?”.
Guha refutes the Chief Justice’s claim that the dhwaja “binds all of us together”. As the scholar explains, “for much of recorded history Hindu temples grievously discriminated against Dalits” and women. Guha says, “There is a vast gap between the ideals of the orthodox Hindu tradition and the ideals that undergird our Constitution” and is surprised the Chief Justice does not recognise and accept this.
Finally, Guha says “a serving Chief Justice making his temple visits so public at this particular juncture in our nation’s history raise disturbing questions about his personal judgement”. What are they? Consequently, has the Chief Justice damaged the office he holds and the Court he heads? Finally, can his behaviour be forgiven and forgotten or will it remain an indelible stain on his tenure and record?…
https://thewire.in/law/karan-thapar-cji-dy-chandrachud-ramachandra-guha
More articles by Ramachandra Guha
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