Chennai, Dec 9 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nainar Nagenthran on Tuesday accused the INDIA bloc of attempting to intimidate and undermine the judiciary through its move to initiate impeachment proceedings against a sitting High Court judge, warning that people will reject such pressure tactics.

In a strongly worded statement, Nagenthran condemned the decision by MPs of the INDIA bloc to move against Justice G. R. Swaminathan of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, who recently delivered a verdict related to religious practice at the Thiruparankundram hills.

The BJP leader said the judge’s order had upheld the cultural and religious rights of devotees and was now being targeted for political reasons.

Describing the impeachment move as “shameful and politically motivated”, Nagenthran said it “exposed” what he called the INDIA bloc’s deep disregard for democratic institutions whenever judicial decisions go against their political interests.

“This is nothing but an attempt to instil fear in the minds of judges and weaken the independence of the judiciary,” he alleged.

Launching a sharp attack on the Congress, the principal party of the bloc, the BJP leader said the country still “shudders at the memory of the Emergency”, when “constitutional rights were curtailed, and democratic institutions were subverted”.

He alleged that the same mindset continued under the present INDIA bloc.

Nagenthran also took on the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, accusing it of following an authoritarian tradition. He alleged that the party had previously elevated leaders who had spoken about demolishing century-old temples and continued to retain individuals who had allegedly mocked the sacred ‘Kanda Sashti Kavacham’.

“In a democratic nation, even governments are bound by constitutional limits. When the DMK government attempted to interfere with the fundamental right to worship, the judiciary intervened and protected the people’s rights. That judicial check has shaken the ruling dispensation, and now they want to silence the very institution that stood up for the people,” he said.

Calling the impeachment bid a direct assault on the judiciary, one of the pillars of Indian democracy, Nagenthran asserted that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would oppose and defeat any such move in Parliament.

He warned that people of Tamil Nadu will not tolerate any attempts to weaken independent institutions.

–IANS

aal/svn