By Sushil Kutty
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was in his ‘no holds barred’ role Saturday, targeting the Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna and the Supreme Court for “taking sides” in the alleged “religious wars”, Dubey claimed was raging in India. Dubey accused CJI Khanna of being the kingpin.
Dubey is a fourth-time BJP Member of Parliament from Jharkhand and is more often than not given the title role in spearheading BJP debates in the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has that degree of trust and confidence in Dubey but Dubey doesn’t make the cut for Modi’s Council of Ministers.
The weekend just gone-by was momentous for the Modi government, for Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for CJI Sanjiv Khanna, for the opposition parties, for AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi, for Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta…and for Nishikant Dubey and BJP Chief JP Nadda, most of all!
Dubey must have kept tabs on the Waqf hearing in the Supreme Court and the proceedings over, he sought out the ‘mic’ to spill “pure poison” and “brutal truth”. Dubey went all hoarse on the amplifier, capping the diatribe against the Supreme Court with “CJI Sanjiv Khanna is fanning the religious wars.”
Nishikant Dubey is nobody’s fool, so who was speaking through him? BJP President JP Nadda rose to damage control, insisting that the BJP had nothing to do with Dubey’s outburst; that the BJP held the Supreme Court in the highest of esteem, period. Sunday morning Nadda woke up to “Nadda” trending on ‘X’.
The Union Health Minister fell victim to fat-shaming which continued from morning to late night and the posts-count was upwards of “45K and counting”, with the majority of the 45K asking for Nadda to be replaced with Nishikant Dubey! Prime Minister Narendra Modi also came in for criticism for laying his trust on Nadda.
As for Dubey, he wasn’t finished, yet. After CJI Khanna, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi caught the fancy of the BJP “firebrand”. Dubey nick-named Quraishi the “Muslim commissioner”, who had aligned himself with the All India Muslim Personal Board on the Waqf Board issue and had, according to Dubey, facilitated Bangladeshi infiltrators’ voter registration when he was the Chief Election Commissioner.
Dubey was going great guns: First the Supreme Court, then the CJI “himself”, and, finally, SY Quraishi, who everybody thought was the classic example of playing fair and square. But, of course, the BJP did not “distance itself” from Dubey’s Quraishi revelation.
The media is a solid bastion for Quraishi. The former CEC’s criticism of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, calling it “sinister and evil plan of the government to grab Muslim lands”, made headlines. “Wakf Act is undoubtedly a blatantly sinister evil plan of the government to grab Muslim lands. I’m sure SC will call it out. Misinformation by the mischievous propaganda machine has done its job well”, Quraishi posted on ‘X’.
And Dubey concluded that the Supreme court took sides.
“You were not an election commissioner, you were a Muslim commissioner. The maximum number of Bangladeshi infiltrators were made voters in Santhal Pargana in Jharkhand during your tenure,” Dubey wrote. “Prophet Muhammad’s Islam came to India in 712. This land (Waqf) before that belonged to Hindus or tribals, Jains or Buddhists associated with that faith.”
Nishikant Dubey’s closing comment on stormy Saturday was “Unite this country, read history; division created by Pakistan, and there will be no more partitions now, will there?” The Godda MP charged the apex court with “inciting religious wars”. Dubey apart, a big section of Indian Hindus also believes that the top court “takes sides” and Nishikant had only amplified!
“The top court has only one aim: ‘Show me the face, and I will show you the law’. The Supreme Court is going beyond its limits. If one has to go to the Supreme Court for everything, then Parliament and State Assembly should be shut,” Dubey told a wire service. As for ‘Show me the face, and I will show you the law’, it is a variation of Stalin’s KGB head Lavrenti Beria’s “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.”
Nishikant Dubey isn’t ‘dumb. His litany of charges covered the gamut of the Supreme Court and they included the “free pass given to homosexuals” and the top court standing in the way of Idgah Mathura and Gyanvapi Kashi “after asking us to show the paper for the Ram Mandir, but now Mughals ke aane ke baad jo Masjid banne hai unke liye keh raho ho paper kaha se dikhayen?”
“The Supreme Court wants to take this country towards anarchy… The President appoints the Chief Justice of India. The Parliament makes the law of this country. You will dictate that Parliament… How did you make a new law? You want to take this country towards anarchy. When the Parliament sits, there will be a detailed discussion…”
There are multiple calls to arraign Dubey before the law of the land, with the loudest coming from the Congress, which had perfected the “it is his personal view” defense. The Congress is now asking “how can it be Dubey’s personal view?” while talking of “checks and balances” amid the buzzwords “executive outreach” and “judicial overreach”.
Both sides are clutching their pearls to the chest and arguing over whose authority ranks higher, the Supreme Court’s or that of Modi, which is the “new constitutional crisis”. Nishikant Dubey is the rogue and Waqf the rogue Act. For Dubey and cohorts, it is “judicial tyranny” and a “move to reset the chessboard for playing out ‘Gazwa-e-Hind.”
Nishikant Dubey and his ilk blame “softies” like JP Nadda for not having the spine for carpe diem, despite several score “seize the moment” moments in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11-year rule. “We’re allowed to be annoyed, aren’t we?” is the sentiment in the Dubey camp.
For Prime Minister Modi this is his last chance to get Muslims to vote for the BJP. Modi has placed all his bets on Pasmanda and Bohra and Ahmedia, Shia and Sufi but the only vote-bank he can be 100% sure of is the Hindu. The number of welfare and other schemes Modi has served to “garib musalman” is mind-boggling!
For context: ‘Maulana Azad Fellowship Scheme’; the ‘Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship’; the ‘Naya Savera Scheme’, the ‘Seekho Aur Kamao Yojana’, the ‘Ustad Yojana’, the ‘Nayi Manzil Yojana’, the ‘Garib Nawaz Rozgar Prashikshan Karyakaram; the ‘Sitara-e-Hind Yojana’ and the ‘National minority Development and Finance Corporation’. And now, the Waqf Amendment Act 2025, which Modi thinks is his ticket to absolute salvation from a past which sullied his name in the eyes of Muslims worldwide. Is Nishikant Dubey the chosen one to spearhead Modi’s absolution? (IPA Service)
Supreme Court Must Not Take BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s Insinuation Lightly 