New Delhi: Neither Parliament nor the executive but the Constitution is supreme, opposition leaders said on Tuesday as they hit back at Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar who slammed his critics for questioning his remarks on a recent Supreme Court order and proclaimed the supremacy of Parliament.
The opposition leaders’ assertions came after Dhankhar said every word spoken by a constitutional authority was guided by supreme national interest.
A top court bench recently prescribed a three-month timeline for the president to decide on bills reserved by governors for her nod.
Reacting to the directive, Dhankhar had said the judiciary could not play the role of a “super Parliament” and get into the domain of the executive.
Addressing a Delhi University event on Tuesday, Dhankhar, who is also the Rajya Sabha chairman, said every word spoken by a constitutional functionary was guided by the supreme, sublime interest of the nation.
“I find it conceivably intriguing that some have recently reflected that constitutional offices can be ceremonial, ornamental. Nothing can be far distanced from a wrong understanding of the role of everyone in this country — constitutional functionary or a citizen,” he said.
Dhankhar also said there was no visualisation in the Constitution of any authority above Parliament. “Parliament is supreme.”
In a post on X, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said, “Supreme Court: Parliament has the plenary power to pass laws. Supreme Court has the obligation to interpret the Constitution and do complete justice (Article 142).”
“Everything the court said is: Consistent with our constitutional values; guided by national interest,” the Independent Rajya Sabha MP and former Congress leader said.
In another post, Sibal said, “The law: Neither Parliament nor the Executive is supreme, the Constitution is supreme. The provisions of the Constitution are interpreted by the Supreme Court. That’s how this country has understood the law so far!”
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also reacted sharply to Dhankhar’s remarks, saying the judiciary would intervene if a wrong law was made and constitutional articles were misused.
“It is his limited understanding. Parliament is definitely supreme and independent. The judiciary and executive are also independent. This is why the stereo separation of powers is part of (the) basic structure of our constitution… If you make wrong laws, if you misuse the constitutional articles, then judiciary will intervene.,” Owaisi told reporters.
RJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said, “The vice-president is a respected constitutional authority but I would urge him to revisit the Constituent Assembly debates where the importance of balance between the judiciary and the legislature was discussed… The Constitution remains our ultimate guide.”
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said there was a strict division of powers in the Constitution among the legislature, executive and the judiciary.
“The judiciary in this country is meant to do judicial review. Yes, Parliament makes the law but the Supreme Court of India is the supreme authority to review those laws to find if those laws meet the norms of the Constitution. Should the judiciary be shut down? Is judicial review wrong? So what is the vice-president talking about? The vice-president should talk about how governors across the country have become puppets of the BJP,” she said.
Reacting to Dhankhar’s remarks, Congress leader and former Lok Sabha MP Danish Ali said the Constitution belonged to the people and not any “elected king” sitting in power.
“Public representatives are servants of the people, not their masters. Now that the judiciary is looking them in the eye and showing them the truth, these ‘masters’ have started feeling the Constitution to be a burden. The country knows who is the ‘master’ who appoints these people ‘who follow orders’,” Ali said in a post in Hindi on X.
“For Vice-President Dhankhar ji, a particular person may be of utmost importance but for us the Constitution is supreme. The country will not forgive the campaign being run to make a particular person all-powerful by ignoring democratic norms under the garb of Parliament or the executive,” he said.
The vice-president is occupying a very high constitutional post and will be aware but is not saying that the Supreme Court has the power to review the laws passed by Parliament, Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav said.
“How can you snatch that right?” Yadav said.
Sibal had slammed Dhankhar last week for questioning the judiciary over the timeline set for the president to take decisions, saying it was “unconstitutional” and that never saw any Rajya Sabha chairman make “political statements” of such nature.
A day after Dhankhar used strong words against the judiciary, Sibal had asserted that the Lok Sabha speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman remained equidistant between the opposition and the ruling party and could be the “spokesperson of one party”.
On April 17, Dhankhar questioned the judiciary setting a timeline for the president to take decisions and act as a “super Parliament”, saying the Supreme Court could not fire a “nuclear missile” at democratic forces.
