On August 19, Delhi’s iconic Bikaner House saw the coming together of the nation’s most prolific lawyers at the launch of author Shweta Bansal’s book ‘Courting Politics‘..The book chronicles stories from the lives of nine eminent lawyers who also happen to be successful politicians. The book has given a title to each of these legal eagles – The Daredevil Ram Jethmalani, The Lawyer for Emerging India Shanti Bhushan, The Reformer-in-chief P Chidambaram, The Gentleman Muzaffar Hussain Baig, The Ultimate Multitasker Abhishek Manu Singhvi, The Artiste Kapil Sibal, The Man for all seasons Arun Jaitley, The Lawyer for Lord Ram Ravi Shankar Prasad and The Debonair Man Salman Khurshid..The event was attended by several high profile personalities from the legal fraternity including the lawyers who form the bedrock of the book and their families. However, the current Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram could not make it to the event due to some prior commitments..Pallavi Shroff of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, while introducing the nine lawyers, stated that the relationship between law and politics has always existed. She expounded on the achievements of each of the nine lawyers and recalled various instances – from Shanti Bhushan’s appearance in Indira Gandhi’s case to Kapil Sibal’s defense of V Ramaswami..The book was launched by Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Sikri. Sikri J. stated that all lawyers cannot be successful politicians and that if he had himself entered the arena of politics, he would have been a failure. In praise of the nine advocates, he said,.“All of them have excelled in their profession. They may be different from each other but they all possess the qualities of a good lawyer and a politician. They are all articulate, have great oratorical skills and in depth knowledge. They are admired both as lawyers and politicians.”.The launch was followed by a panel discussion among the nine lawyers regarding various issues especially the relationship between law and politics..Ram Jethmalani left after expressing his anguish at the ruling government. He stated that he had supported Narendra Modi for the post of the Prime Minister since 2011 and now he is the unhappiest man in the country as not even a single promise has been fulfilled by the government..“I am in deep agony and have a sense of disappointment.”.Kapil Sibal stated that essentially there is a contradiction between law and politics. He said that law supports the status quo while politics seeks to destroy it,.“At any given point in history, the law is static and society has moved forward. So there is always a tension between law and politics.”.On the question of defending Triple Talaq, Sibal answered that there is a difference between personal law and statutory law, and the court should not delve into the personal matters of citizens..Salman Khurshid and Ravi Shankar Prasad took potshots at each other during the event. Khurshid stated that it is the BJP that came in the way of his political advancement to which Prasad said that due to the BJP, Khurshid has more time to practice law. He further stated that Khurshid would have to practice law for a very long time now. Khurshid retorted by saying that he would then use the courts to stop the ruling government..Muzaffar H Baig stated that due the title ‘Gentleman’ given to him by the author would cost him a great deal as more clients would not come to seek his advise..Shanti Bhushan jokingly said that instead of ‘courting politics’, the book could have been titled ‘Nine Monkeys’..Bhushan reiterated his long standing opinion that the judiciary too suffers from corruption and enough is not being done to curb it. He also raised the issue of lack of transparency in the funding of political parties..There was difference of opinion between Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kapil Sibal on the issue of mechanisms to check corruption in the judiciary. While Prasad stated that there were enough checks, Sibal differed and stated that there was no effective mechanism to prevent corruption in judiciary..Abhishek Manu Singhvi stated that litigating lawyers are the only lot which function within a square kilometer, in visibility of each other. Therefore, there is a greater amount of envy, leg pulling and ambushing amongst them. Corporate lawyers don’t do it to that extent. Architects and doctors also do not indulge in such a behaviour, he said..“Everyone is constantly watching what the other guy is doing, how well is he doing, why is doing well, how does get so many cases and so on.” .The discussion ended with all the lawyers sharing that they had no regrets about their careers either as lawyers or as politicians..Click here to download the Bar & Bench Android App
On August 19, Delhi’s iconic Bikaner House saw the coming together of the nation’s most prolific lawyers at the launch of author Shweta Bansal’s book ‘Courting Politics‘..The book chronicles stories from the lives of nine eminent lawyers who also happen to be successful politicians. The book has given a title to each of these legal eagles – The Daredevil Ram Jethmalani, The Lawyer for Emerging India Shanti Bhushan, The Reformer-in-chief P Chidambaram, The Gentleman Muzaffar Hussain Baig, The Ultimate Multitasker Abhishek Manu Singhvi, The Artiste Kapil Sibal, The Man for all seasons Arun Jaitley, The Lawyer for Lord Ram Ravi Shankar Prasad and The Debonair Man Salman Khurshid..The event was attended by several high profile personalities from the legal fraternity including the lawyers who form the bedrock of the book and their families. However, the current Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram could not make it to the event due to some prior commitments..Pallavi Shroff of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, while introducing the nine lawyers, stated that the relationship between law and politics has always existed. She expounded on the achievements of each of the nine lawyers and recalled various instances – from Shanti Bhushan’s appearance in Indira Gandhi’s case to Kapil Sibal’s defense of V Ramaswami..The book was launched by Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Sikri. Sikri J. stated that all lawyers cannot be successful politicians and that if he had himself entered the arena of politics, he would have been a failure. In praise of the nine advocates, he said,.“All of them have excelled in their profession. They may be different from each other but they all possess the qualities of a good lawyer and a politician. They are all articulate, have great oratorical skills and in depth knowledge. They are admired both as lawyers and politicians.”.The launch was followed by a panel discussion among the nine lawyers regarding various issues especially the relationship between law and politics..Ram Jethmalani left after expressing his anguish at the ruling government. He stated that he had supported Narendra Modi for the post of the Prime Minister since 2011 and now he is the unhappiest man in the country as not even a single promise has been fulfilled by the government..“I am in deep agony and have a sense of disappointment.”.Kapil Sibal stated that essentially there is a contradiction between law and politics. He said that law supports the status quo while politics seeks to destroy it,.“At any given point in history, the law is static and society has moved forward. So there is always a tension between law and politics.”.On the question of defending Triple Talaq, Sibal answered that there is a difference between personal law and statutory law, and the court should not delve into the personal matters of citizens..Salman Khurshid and Ravi Shankar Prasad took potshots at each other during the event. Khurshid stated that it is the BJP that came in the way of his political advancement to which Prasad said that due to the BJP, Khurshid has more time to practice law. He further stated that Khurshid would have to practice law for a very long time now. Khurshid retorted by saying that he would then use the courts to stop the ruling government..Muzaffar H Baig stated that due the title ‘Gentleman’ given to him by the author would cost him a great deal as more clients would not come to seek his advise..Shanti Bhushan jokingly said that instead of ‘courting politics’, the book could have been titled ‘Nine Monkeys’..Bhushan reiterated his long standing opinion that the judiciary too suffers from corruption and enough is not being done to curb it. He also raised the issue of lack of transparency in the funding of political parties..There was difference of opinion between Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kapil Sibal on the issue of mechanisms to check corruption in the judiciary. While Prasad stated that there were enough checks, Sibal differed and stated that there was no effective mechanism to prevent corruption in judiciary..Abhishek Manu Singhvi stated that litigating lawyers are the only lot which function within a square kilometer, in visibility of each other. Therefore, there is a greater amount of envy, leg pulling and ambushing amongst them. Corporate lawyers don’t do it to that extent. Architects and doctors also do not indulge in such a behaviour, he said..“Everyone is constantly watching what the other guy is doing, how well is he doing, why is doing well, how does get so many cases and so on.” .The discussion ended with all the lawyers sharing that they had no regrets about their careers either as lawyers or as politicians..Click here to download the Bar & Bench Android App
