Parliament is supreme, says Dhankhar amid judiciary-executive row
A day after the Supreme Court said it was being accused of intruding into the domain of the executive Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar again doubled down on his insistence about separation of powers and said the Parliament is supreme.
The V-P said the Indian Constitution doesn’t visualise a situation where any authority is higher than the Parliament of India.
The V-P had earlier last week questioned the Supreme Court for its ruling on setting a three-month deadline for President to clear Bills sent to her by Governors for approval and consent. Dhankhar had accused the apex court then of acting as a super Parliament.
At an event in Delhi university today the Vice-President said: “A prime minister who imposed emergency was held accountable in 1977. And therefore, let there be no doubt about it. Constitution is for the people and the ultimate responsibility of what that constitution will be is with the elected representatives. They are the ultimate masters of what the Constitution will be. There is no visualisation in the Constitution of any authority above Parliament. Parliament is supreme."
He said the Parliament is as supreme as every individual in the country. Referring to the opening lines of the Preamble “We the people" the V-P said these lines represent the atomic power of a collective will of the people.
“And that atomic power is reflected during the elections, and that is why we are a democratic nation," he said as the judiciary versus executive row continues.
The ruling BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma also last week made objectionable remarks involving the SC, with BJP chief JP Nadda distancing from the statements.
The V-P today also ticked off former Congress veteran Kapil Sibal for terming the vice-president office a ceremonial office in his remarks lately.
“For any democracy, every citizen has a pivotal role. I find it inconceivably intriguing that some have recently reflected that constitutional offices can be ceremonial or ornamental. Nothing can be far distanced from a wrong understanding of the role of everyone in this country, constitutional functionary or a citizen," Dhankhar said.
He said a citizen is supreme because a nation and democracy are built by citizens. =
“Every one of them has a role ! The soul of democracy resides and pulsates in every citizen. Democracy will blossom, its values will get heightened when citizen is alert, citizen contributes and what citizen contributes there is no substitution of that," he added.
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