[Sedition Challenge] What Pandit Nehru could not do, current government is doing: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to Supreme Court

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his policies have been a subject of constant scrutiny and debates among political adversaries. .A court hall is, however, an unlikely setting for such parleys. But that is what transpired on Tuesday afternoon when the hearing in the challenge to sedition law before Supreme Court threw up the late freedom fighter's name. It started when Congress leader and Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal who was representing one of the petitioners challenging the law, said that former PM Nehru had echoed similar sentiments regarding Section 124A which criminalises sedition. "We are in post-constitution era. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said that this provision is obnoxious and the sooner we get rid of sedition, the better," Sibal said. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Central government, then responded by stating that the current government is actually acting on it.The SG was referring to the fact that the Central government had decided to reexamine Section 124A in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's concern for liberties and rights."What Nehru couldn’t do, the current government is doing. We are trying to do, what Pandit Nehru could not do then," quipped the Solicitor General..However, Sibal retorted, "No, not at all. You are not doing that. You are supporting the law. You are saying all is good Mr Mehta.".Sibal then proceeded to quote Mahatma Gandhi:"Affection cannot be manufactures. One should be free to express disaffection, so long as there is no incitement to violence. I hold it to be a virtue to be disaffected to the Government," said Sibal. .The Supreme Court eventually asked the Central government whether it can issue a direction to the States to keep in abeyance all pending sedition cases till the government's exercise of reviewing Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is complete.The bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to clarify its stance by tomorrow.Read more about today's hearing here.