Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, a nominated member in Rajya Sabha, said on August 7 that the basic structure of the Constitution has a “debatable jurisprudential basis”.
This was Mr. Gogoi’s maiden speech in the Upper House. He was participating in the discussion on the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Four women members - Jaya Bachchan (Samajwadi Party), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT) Vandana Chavan (NCP) and Sushmita Dev (TMC) walked out of the House to protest his speech as he had faced allegations of sexual harassment during his stint as the CJI in 2019. Mr. Gogoi had denied the allegations and a Supreme Court panel had given him a clean chit.
On Monday, while speaking on the Bill, Mr. Gogoi said, “The law may not be to be my liking but that does not make it arbitrary. Does it violate the basic feature of the Constitution? I have to say something about the basic structure. There is a book by [former Solicitor-General of India] Andhyarujina on the Kesavananda Bharati case. Having read the book, my view is that the doctrine of the basic structure of the Constitution has a debatable, very debatable jurisprudential basis. I would not say anything more than this,” he said amid thumping of desk by the treasury benches.
Mr. Gogoi took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2020.
Reacting to this, Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha member K.C. Venugopal asked if the government endorsed the former CJI’s views.
“Is this the BJP’s trick to begin the full-fledged dismantling of the Constitution of India? Does it think that democracy, equality, secularism, federalism, judicial independence are all ‘debatable’ ideas? Not surprising that those who have no regard for constitutional principles are now propping up a former CJI with a ‘debatable’ track record to begin their attack on the Constitution through this very dangerous throwaway line,” Mr. Venugopal posted on X.
He added, “What is Mr. Gogoi’s argument? Is he saying that there is nothing called the basic structure that should be protected? Does the Government endorse this @arjunrammeghwal? They must categorically oppose this line of thought, or it will be clear that the BJP has now started a process to destroy the core tenets of our Constitution.”
