Counterpoint: Judges, Modi Face Dharma’s Fierce Fire
By Vivekanand Jha*
A shadow falls over India’s judiciary as former Chief Justice Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud clings to the official bungalow a year past his 2024 retirement, even after Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s departure, his resolve unshaken until a vacation notice—illegally occupied by the former Chief Justice, as the letter of vacation could have been the trigger for stirring Justice Chandrachud’s consciousness, willy nilly vindicates the fact beggars belief—jars him into action.
This unconscionable delay, reeking of bad taste, unveils a lack of scruples far beneath the dignity of India’s highest judicial office, igniting a question in the hearts of common men and women: ‘If the Chief Justice, in all his wisdom, held onto privilege post-retirement, stirred only by external prodding, can we trust a judiciary mired in controversies—where Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justices, rather obnoxiously, continue to chase loaves and fishes in their post retirement phase, seeking lucrative post-retirement assignments and benefits with alarming zeal?’
The erosion of faith deepens, yet a whisper of hope stirs. Justice Jasti Chelameswar’s swift exit to a humble village life, shunning farewells and post-retirement roles, mirrors the sages’ detachment, while former Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s choice to forgo the official bungalow during his tenure hints at restraint. The incumbent Chief Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai’s recent pledge, alongside a couple of judges, to forgo post-retirement positions, carries the hallmarks of banishing the maladies afflicting the judiciary today, echoing a return to dharma’s embrace.
Across this judicial landscape, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi’s political path intertwines. Having sidelined Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to the Margdarshak Committee at seventy-five, he donned the mantle of Pradhan Sevak, setting a retirement age for politicians. Yet, in eleven years, not a moment graces their counsel. Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat, Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, echoed this at seventy-four, urging elders to yield to youth, though his predecessors’ conventions might shield him, the question lingers.
As Narendra Damodardas Modi nears seventy-five in September 2025, his own rule boomerangs, beckoning an Agnipariksha. His Ayodhya triumph honours Lord Ram, yet Ram’s exile of Sita to uphold dharma challenges Modi’s devotion. Will he, like Chandragupta Maurya, ascend to asceticism, or falter, risking history’s scorn for negating Lord Alfred Thompson Denning’s dictum, ‘Be you however so high, the law is still above you’? The nation watches, curious, as this trial mirrors a deeper soul-searching.
Imagine a mother trekking to Great Adi Shankaracharya, her son’s salt addiction warping his form, pleading for his wisdom to intervene. The monist, eyes twinkling with silent resolve, bids her return in a week. She does, and this time, he sternly frees the boy from salt’s grip, confessing, ‘Last week, I too savoured salt—unworthy to judge while bound by the same flaw. I shed it with detachment, and now, with clean hands, I guide.’ This tale, where Brahman and jiva unite in consciousness, flows like a river through our story.
Like Shankaracharya, Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud needed a nudge to release his hold, Narendra Damodardas Modi faces his own purification, and Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat’s doctrine awaits his mirror. Even Lord Ram, hearing whispers of doubt about Sita’s chastity post-Ravana, sent her into exile despite his rending heart, subjecting her to Agnipariksha to prove her purity. Aware of her trials, he sanctified dharma, ensuring kings and commoners alike bow to its law, trumping personal pain. From the corridors of justice to Ayodhya’s sacred ground, this thread weaves a call can today’s leaders, through sacrifice, reclaim justice’s divine harmony?
*Vivekanand Jha is an Author, Academician and a Public Intellectual. The views expressed are personal.
