‘Wearing saffron clothes…’ Why did Prashant Bhushan tweet this about CJI Chandrachud?
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is in the news these days. Recently he was on a visit to Gujarat. He also went to Dwarkadhis temple. During this, taking inspiration from the flags on the temples, he asked the lawyers of the district courts to work in such a way that the ‘flag of justice’ keeps flying for the coming generations. A new debate has erupted regarding his visit. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan has tweeted.
Prashant Bhushan posted on social media site Read Ramachandra Guha ‘Gandhi himself never actually visited any Hindu temple. Although Gandhi described himself as a Hindu, his chosen form of worship was an inter-religious meeting held in an open field, where Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Jains and Christians would pray. Together, verses from all their scriptures were read. This was his original and deeply moving way of affirming the principle that India treats all religions equally.’
What did CJI Chandrachud say?
It is noteworthy that CJI Chandrachud had said that the ‘Dhwaj’ (flag) of the Dwarkadhish temple, which is similar to the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha, has a special meaning for the people of the judicial community. He further said, ‘Look at this universality of change in our nation that binds us all together. This ‘flag’ has a special meaning for us, and the meaning that the ‘flag’ gives us is that there is a unifying power over all of us as lawyers, judges and citizens and that unifying power is our humanity, which Governed by the rule of law and the Constitution of India.
Historian Ramachandra Guha criticized CJI
Historian Ramchandra Guha has also criticized CJI Chandrachud’s visit. In his column for The Scroll, Guha wrote, ‘Obviously this is not true. The flag traditionally flying over Hindu temples brought us all together; The work of tying together the thread of humanity has not been done. Hindu temples have severely discriminated against Dalits for most of recorded history.
