Indira-Gandhi’s-Old-Video-Goes-Viral-as-BJP-Congress-Clash-Over-Judiciary-Hits-Boiling-PointIndira Gandhi questions judiciary in resurfaced video amid BJP-Congress faceoff

 

As political outrage hit out at BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s remarks challenging the role of the Supreme Court, the Bharatiya Janata Party posted an old clip of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressing fears about judicial overreach.

The clip, taken during the post-Emergency period, was put by BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption, “Indira Gandhi – the Congress must know its own past.”

Gandhi’s Remark Against Shah Commission

 

The video, reportedly from an interview in the late 1970, captures Gandhi’s pushback against the Shah Commission, set up in 1977 to probe Emergency-era abuses like press censorship, police brutality, and mass sterilization. In the clip, the former prime minister questions the judiciary’s role in political matters:

“How does Mr Shah know what is going on in the world of politics? What are the forces at play that desire to bring down a growing economy? Is a judge qualified to rule that? Then why have democracy? Why have elections? Why have political individuals in authority?”

 

Dubey’s Comments Spark Uproar

 

The BJP’s release of the video in the midst of a controversy over Dubey’s recent X post, in which he had written, “Kanoon yadi Supreme Court banayega to Sansad Bhavan band kar dena chahiye,” suggesting the judiciary was overstepping its bounds into the domain of the legislature. His comments were severely criticized by opposition parties., leading the BJP to distance itself.

Yet Dubey went even further in later remarks, charging the judiciary with “provoking religious wars” and crossing constitutional limits. He attacked recent Supreme Court orders, such as the decriminalization of homosexuality, as being at variance with religious sentiments and societal mores. “There are just sexes…everybody feels homosexuality is a crime,” he asserted.

The concentration of power during the Emergency was criticized by the Shah Commission, which was led by Justice JC Shah. Gandhi’s opposition to the Commission’s power and her larger worries about the judiciary’s role in government are reflected in her statement in the video.

 

Political Strategy of Historical Reminder

 

Clearly, the BJP is counteracting disparaging remarks by throwing at opposition its own words from Indira Gandhi’s past eloquence on absolute bar to judicial interference. Such repackaging seems to have taken legacy issues to the forefront of their use as weapons in today’s political skirmishes, especially regarding the separation of powers.

Though the BJP presents the video as a reminder from history, Congress leaders have not reacted officially yet. The controversy highlights the constant tension between the legislature and the judiciary, and how both past and present narratives are defining India’s politics.