In a major development, notice has been issued to Congress President Rahul Gandhi for attributing the remark ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ to the Supreme Court.
Appearing for petitioner Meenakshi Lekhi, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that Gandhi has admitted that he had made a wrong statement.
“He has said that he did not read the order and that he said it in a euphoric manner”, submitted Rohatgi.
He further argued that the apology by Rahul Gandhi is in brackets in one line saying, “he regrets”.
“It is lip service”, submitted Mukul Rohatgi, referring to Gandhi’s statement.
“His statement from Amethi to Wayanad is Supreme Court said Chowkidar Chor Hai and Narendra Modi is the Chowkidar. Is this how a leader of national party treats the Supreme Court?”
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi then argued that it was inconceivable that the Supreme Court will say “Chowkidar Chor Hai”.
He said that for the last 18 months, the slogan surrounding Chowkidar has been used in politics.
“I am expressing regret only for attributing the slogan to Supreme Court. I stand by my political slogan ‘Chowkidar chor hai’. I regret for attributing it to Supreme Court”, Singhvi submitted on behalf of Gandhi.
Singhvi also said that BJP leaders had gone around claiming that the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the government with respect to the Rafale deal, when it had in fact not done so.
“I have extracted judgment of the Court. We did not have time to file contempt cases”, said Singhvi.
The Court proceeded to issue notice to Rahul Gandhi and listed the contempt matter along with the review petition for Tuesday next week.
