Congress slams ex-Lokayukta Santosh Hegde for remark on banning party

Congress slams ex-Lokayukta Santosh Hegde for remark on banning party

Bengaluru:  The ruling Congress in Karnataka has slammed former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde for stating that if the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) can be banned, the grand old party too can be banned.

Ramesh Babu, Member, Legislative Council (MLC) and Chairman, KPCC Media Division, stated on Saturday that, “In connection with the issue of banning the RSS, Justice Santosh Hegde’s recent interview given to a private channel has sparked a new debate. By stating that if the RSS can be banned, then the Congress Party too can be banned, he has exposed his own dual character before the people.”

Retired Justice Hegde seems to have taken upon himself the responsibility of acting as a spokesperson defending the Sangh Parivar, an organization that was banned twice before Independence and three times after independence, he said.

Justice Santosh Hegde, who did not raise his voice against the Sanatanis who attempted attacks on the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, is now speaking in favour of the RSS through private channels that do not provide a platform for any public debate — a sad irony of our system, he slammed.

Hegde stated that there are no serious allegations against the RSS that warrant a ban and that they haven’t committed any murders.

“For him, it seems, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the accused murderers are invisible. Likewise, equating Gandhi’s walking stick to the RSS’s sticks and joking about it exposes another face of his mindset,” Ramesh Babu stated.

The RSS is not a single organization — it is a family of around 50 different outfits across the country that are dedicated to sowing seeds of hatred under different names, he charged.

Justice Santosh Hegde is among the few judges directly appointed to the Supreme Court of India. His father, K.S. Hegde, was also a Supreme Court judge and later served as the Speaker in India’s first non-Congress Janata Party government, he claimed.

K.S. Hegde was opposed to the Congress Party and Indira Gandhi. It appears that Justice Santosh Hegde’s current statement stems from his lingering feeling that he was denied the opportunity to become Chief Justice of India under the Congress-led central government — a belief that aligns with his father’s political leanings, Ramesh Babu stated.

Though Santosh Hegde had resigned from the post of Lokayukta in Karnataka in 2010 citing moral reasons, he withdrew his resignation following the request of BJP leader L.K. Advani. His current remarks appear to be a continuation of that same line of thought, he chided.

The RSS and its affiliates, unsettled by Minister Priyanka Kharge’s letter, have exposed themselves through acts ranging from personal attacks to threats of violence, he said.

Justice Hegde’s defense of the Sangh Parivar is no exception to this. Under Article 19 of the Constitution, while fundamental rights are guaranteed, Justice Hegde and his associates are interpreting them to suit their convenience. The Supreme Court, in several judgments, has upheld the authority of state governments to maintain law and order, he said.

The Home Department has, with data, established that many communal riots in Karnataka and across the country have had the Sangh Parivar’s involvement. The government cannot remain silent when any organization — including the Sangh Parivar — disturbs law and order, disrupts peace, incites communal hatred, or threatens the nation’s security and integrity, Ramesh Babu alleged.