New Delhi: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said that India is a democratic nation with a robust judiciary which can not be compromised by any individual or any group.
Describing Indian democracy as unique, Vice President Dhankhar said India does not need lessons from anyone on the rule of law, in an oblique reference to recent observations by the US in connection with the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case.
His comments have been perceived as an apparent swipe at the US and Germany for their remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
He said a country in Europe, “a developed democracy, they need to think within. They need to attend to their own affairs. India is a democratic nation with robust judicial systems”.
The Vice President made the remarks while attending a programme to inaugurate the renovated premises of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA).
Addressing the 70th Founders’ Day celebrations of the IIPA here, Dhankhar said that “equality before law is a new norm” in India today and the law is holding those accountable who think themselves beyond the law.
“But what do we see? The moment the law takes its course, they take to streets, high decibel debates, camouflaging culpability of the worst nature by human rights. This is happening under our nose,” he added.
Describing the Indian judiciary as robust, pro-people and independent, he questioned: “What is justification for a person or an institution or an organisation to take to the streets when the law is set in motion?”
Calling for deeper deliberations on this issue, Dhankhar asked: “Can people orchestrate, in complaining mode, a pernicious tendency to get away from the rule of law? How can one engaging in transgression of the law play the victim card?”
Saying that corruption is no longer rewarding, Vice President Dhankhar said: “Corruption is not a passage to opportunity, employment or a contract anymore. It is a passage to jail. The system is securing it.”
Praising the pro-people stand of the Indian judiciary, the Vice President said: “It is that institution of judiciary that has met at midnight, met on a holiday, and imparted relief.”
Further advocating India’s case for the UNSC seat, he said that “United Nations cannot be as protective and effective unless you have representation of a country like India that has a unique position of being the only country in the world to have constitutionally structured democracy at all levels”.
On Thursday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hoped that in India’s elections, “everyone’s rights are protected”, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said.
“What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone’s rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair”, he said in response to a question from a Bangladeshi journalist at his daily briefing.
In making a general statement, Dujarric did not directly react to the journalist’s assertion that India was at a “crisis point” mentioning the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and what he said were the freezing of Congress Party funds
(With inputs from news agencies)
