There were great orators like Nehru, Vajpayee; now we have fringe elements making hate speeches: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday lamented the fall in standards of political discourse in the country saying great orators like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee are long gone and hate speeches by fringe elements have instead come to occupy their space. .A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said that country is now witnessing hate speeches from all camps and it has led to a vicious cycle of action and reaction."Where are we heading? There were orators like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.. The midnight speech and people from rural areas used to come (to listen to them). Now fringe elements from all sides making these statements," Justice Nagarathna bemoaned.Intolerance comes from lack of knowledge and education, she added. Justice Joseph also came down upon statements made by fringe elements towards minority communities."They are saying things which are denigrating and most important thing is dignity which is demolished on a regular basis by statements like 'go to Pakistan'. They chose this country. They are like your brothers and sisters. Remember our school oath. We are from the old generation. This cannot be allowed to go to that level," Justice Joseph said."We will never go to that level as long as my client is a majority in this country," counsel for Hindu Samaj, PV Yogeshwaran, responded. The observations were made by the bench while responding to arguments by the Hindu Samaj counsel who claimed right to hold religious procession. The Hindu Samaj moved the Court seeking intervention in the batch of pleas seeking that steps be taken against hate speech incidents.The Court was specifically dealing with a plea by Kerala journalist Shaheen Abdullah regarding hate speeches being made in Maharashtra by Hindu right-wing leaders.Advocate Vishnu Jain, appearing for the Hindu Front for Justice (also seeking impleadment), said that they have a right to hold religious processions."Right to hold procession is fine but what you do in the procession is different," Justice Nagarathna said."What happens to the minorities and their rights which was envisaged by the founding fathers...we were all handed down a legacy. What is tolerance. Tolerance is not putting up with somebody but accepting the differences," Justice Joseph weighed in."My client believes in that," advocate Jain responded..Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for the petitioner, said that there have been around ten rallies in Maharashtra which involved hate speech. The bench, however, asked which of those would specifically be in contempt of court's judgment in the Tehseen Poonawalla case in which Court had evolved a legal mechanism to tackle hate speech."Which of these specific instance draws contempt?" Justice Joseph asked.Justice Nagarathna also said that rushing to Supreme Court for each and every case of contempt would not be practical and she called for self -restraint by citizens."How many contempt after contempt we will see. How will Supreme Court deal with all this? That is why I said don't start with Supreme Court. Should not there be restraint on speech else we will not become the India we desire to be. Why cannot the citizens of this country take a pledge to not vilify others and what kind of pleasure are we deriving," she asked."One order calling for status report etc goes a long way in giving a nudge for the authority to act," advocate Pasha said."Develop a mechanism so that it does not come to Supreme Court," Justice Nagarathna then suggested..Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, then highlighted instances of hate speech against Hindus in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and insisted that the Court should consider the same as well and not limit itself to Maharashtra."We have also found some statements which should be added to this petition. Leader of DMK party says that if you want equality you should butcher all the Brahmins....Please hear this clip from Kerala. This is shocking. It should shock the conscience of this court. A child has been used to say this ..we should be embarrassed...he says 'Hindus and Christians should prepare for final rites'," the SG said."Yes yes we know," replied Justice Joseph. "Then you should have taken suo motu cognisance," said the SG."There are cracks in the idea of fraternity," Justice Nagarathna said."Such submissions cannot befit the office of the Solicitor General and we cannot engage in such whataboutery," Pasha said..SG Mehta persisted with his arguments on the clip from Kerala."Why are we shying away from looking at the clip," he asked."There is a method to see this. this applies to all of them equally. You can include this in submission," Justice Joseph said."Let us not be selective.. I am showing clip which is on public domain," the SG said."Hate speech is a vicious cycle and people will react. State will have to initiate a process," said Justice Joseph.The Court then asked Maharashtra to file its response to the petition.The SG insisted that notice should be issued to State of Kerala as well."Please please please do not do this and this will be a justification of the clip," the SG said."State is behaving impotent and does not take action on time," the bench said."Why do you not see the Kerala clip? Mr Jain's plea has statements.. let the petitioner incorporate this," the SG once again insisted."Let Mr Jain fight his own case," the SG said."No no let us see the petitioner does it or not," the SG said."The instances which I am pointing out .. these statements must be looked at," Jain also weighed in."Let us not make this into a drama. This is a legal proceeding," the bench said and posted the case for further consideration on April 28..[Follow our live-coverage of today's hearing].[Read order]