Prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi has said at the end of a Gandhinagar function commemorating 50 years of the Bar Council of India (BCI), as reported by the Indian Express:
“This is a field in which I am not worthy enough to say anything, because never in my life was I booked for a case of even parking on the wrong side. I have neither gone to any advocate’s office nor have seen any court premises… If I have seen courts they were only in films,” said Modi.
Meanwhile, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra said: “Mahatma Gandhi is reborn in Narendra Modi.”
Mishra added: “We chose Gujarat for this programme after looking at the atmosphere in 2014 […] In 2013, we had invited Manmohan Singh, but after seeing the wave of 2014, we have decided to address the issues over here. It was essentially needed that our national leader should know about the plight of legal fraternity.”
The PTI reported that Modi added, on the subject of reducing the pendency of cases:
“If we focus on a policy-driven governance, if there is good governance, pendency of cases will be reduced… Numerous litigations are filed by people against the government as there is no clear policy on many issues.”
Modi also suggested that legal issues should be aired on television, akin to TV’s parliamentary broadcast: “Why shouldn’t we make a programme on legal issues which can be broadcast at least once in a week. If Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha channels can be run, why not a channel on judiciary.”
The event was attended by a battery of Supreme Court judges and high court judges and chief justices, according to the Express.
Photo by Al Jazeera
Comments
That you, Arjun Sharma, choose to hold Mahatma Gandhi in high esteem is surely not Manan Kumar Mishra's fault ?
Gandhi was tried for sedition and jailed in 1922. If Sharma were to be alive then, what would he have called Gandhi ? A law breaker, naturally ?
(Of course, laws changed. I know this isn't 1922).
Or, was Manan Kumar Mishra alluding to Lord Meghnad Desai's Mahatma Gandhi ? (Alert: Criticism of Gandhi, do not read except at your own risk and responsibility)
http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/by-endorsing-gita-gandhi-condoned-violence_750938.html
Don't get me wrong...I certainly respect Sharma's "right to disgust", and to hold his own opinions which might be, to me, equally so!
Kian, you should ask Subramanian Swamy some questions. Bar&Bench had interviewed Swamy but the article is behind a paywall.
Would this mean that Mr Mishra will now not be dictated by the Congress politicians who are blocking foreign law firms? This could be the real story out of this. Rumour has it that P Chidambaram is blocking liberalization at the behest of his good friend You Know Who.
anurag deep,asso. prof. ILI, new delhi
http://www.legallyindia.com/201403034403/Bar-Bench-Litigation/bci-chief-criticised-for-playing-electoral-politics-after-namo-gives-free-food-for-7000-lawyers
Kian, any thoughts on the possibility of LI producing the series, Bombay Legal? :P
However, I believe someone else is actually planning a court TV channel... It's been brewing for a few months, not sure if it's public yet though...
Also, NaMo may not have been aware when he made the comment, but there are already Bloomberg's Court TV and CNN IBN's The Firm...
Without cameras in the courtroom, not sure how much more is worth doing (from NaMo's perspective)?