Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday dubbed the INDIA bloc constituents’ impeachment move against a Madras High Court Judge as “political intimidation”.
The Janasena Party founder charged that it was an attempt at “silencing” the judiciary.
Several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, on Tuesday submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of Madras High Court judge GR Swaminathan, whose order directing Subramaniya Swamy temple authorities in Madurai’s Thirupparan-kundram to ensure that a lamp is lit at the deepathoon (pillar) sparked a row.
“Over 120 MPs from the INDIA Bloc, led by the DMK, have weaponized the Constitution to call for the impeachment of a Judge. This is not judicial accountability; this is blatant political intimidation,” Kalyan said in a post on ‘X’.
Why were certain political parties going to such extreme lengths to impeach a judge for a judgement that simply upholds the right to practice the Hindu faith, he asked.
“Is this not a cynical attempt to strong-arm and silence the broader judiciary,” the actor-politician said. Was this motion not a signal to all judges that they must be “careful” when ruling in cases about Hindu traditional practices and faith, he added.
“The selective outrage and weaponisation of the impeachment process in this case expose a disturbing bias. This incident only solidifies the urgent need for a unified institutional voice,” Kalyan added.
Calling for the establishment of a ‘Sanatana Dharma Rakshana Board’ as the need of the hour, Kalyan asserted that devotees can actively manage their temples and religious affairs without the fear of alleged political interference or judicial overreach spurred by “political vendetta” under such as set up.
According to the deputy CM, when a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had delivered the Sabarimala judgment overturning a “centuries-old, deeply cherished custom” regarding entry into one of the most sacred Hindu sites, no judge was impeached.
Their ruling, which fundamentally altered a core religious practice, was met only with legal review petitions, not political motions for removal, he said.
However, he alleged that the political establishment has set a dramatically different standard now and a High Court Judge is being ‘targeted’ just because he delivered a judgement upholding the right of believers to light a lamp and practice a long-standing ritual on property legally recognised as belonging to a religious institution.
