Kapil Sibal slams Jagdeep Dhankhar over ‘super parliament’ remark on SC – ‘no speaker can be spokesperson of a party’

Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Friday slammed Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for questioning the judiciary over the timeline for the president to take decisions, saying this is "unconstitutional" and he had never seen any Rajya Sabha chairman make "political statements" of this nature.

Kapil Sibal said that the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman remain equidistant between the opposition and the ruling party, and cannot be the "spokesperson of the party".

"Everyone knows that the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair is in between. He or she is the Speaker of the House, not the speaker of one party. They also don't vote, they only vote when there is a tie. The same is with the upper house. You are equidistant between the opposition and the ruling party," the senior advocate said at a press conference here, a day after Dhankhar used strong words against the judiciary.

Dhankar Dhankhar on Thursday questioned the judiciary setting a timeline for the president to take decisions and act as a "super Parliament", saying the Supreme Court cannot fire a "nuclear missile" at democratic forces. He criticised the Supreme Court's ruling allowing judicial review of presidential and gubernatorial assent on state bills, questioning the basis of such directives and asserting concerns over judicial overreach into executive functions.

"Everything you say must be equidistant. No speaker can be the spokesperson of a party. I don't say that he (Dhankhar) is but no Speaker in principle can be the spokesperson of any party. If it appears so then the dignity of the chair is lowered," Sibal asserted.

Dhankhar's strong words to the judiciary came during his speech to Rajya Sabha interns, days after the Supreme Court sought to fix a timeline for the president to grant assent to the bills reserved for her consideration by the governor.

"So, we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super Parliament and absolutely have no accountability because the law of the land does not apply to them," Dhankhar said.

He also described Article 142, which grants plenary powers to the Supreme Court, as a "nuclear missile against democratic forces available to the judiciary 24x7".

Kapil Sibal, the former Congress leader and Union Minister, slammed Dhankhar for his remarks and said, "If you give such statements it will look as if judiciary is being taught a lesson. It Is not neutral and not constitutional."

"I have never seen any chairman of the House make political statements of this nature. Even BJP chairman in the past (have not done so)," Sibal said, hitting out at Dhankhar.

Sibal said he was saddened and surprised by the statement of Dhankhar."I respect him a lot but you said article 142 is nuclear missile material, how can you say this? Article 142 has given powers to the Supreme Court and it is given by the Constitution, it is not by the government it is the Constitution to do complete justice," Sibal said.

Raj Bhavans Prompting RSS agenda: Congress

Congress party also reacted on Dhankhar's comments. Party leader Supriya Shrinate said the Vice President, before talking about the powers of the Governor, should look at their (Governors) behaviour. “They are constantly stopping the laws passed by the state government, creating obstacles, pushing the agenda of the RSS...Today, the Raj Bhavan is full of such people who are promoting the agenda of the RSS,” she told news agency ANI.

TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee echoed these concerns, accusing Dhankhar of displaying “repeated disregard” for the judiciary. “The statement made by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar regarding Supreme Court judges is highly objectionable and borders on contempt. As a constitutional authority, he is expected to uphold and respect other constitutional institutions,” Banerjee said.

DMK’s Tiruchi Siva termed the remarks “unethical” and reiterated that the rule of law must prevail over institutional arrogance. “No individual, under the guise of being a constitutional authority, can indefinitely sit on bills passed by a legislature. The Vice President’s observations are unethical,” he said.

(With agency inputs)