New Delhi, November 18
Expressing serious concern over senseless violence in different parts of the country, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan today warned that aggressive politics on divisive issues and degradation of moral values in judiciary were threatening the very foundation of the country’s Constitutional order.
In a strongly worded speech on the current political and law and order situation, he said agitations were being launched for flimsy reasons without even considering the option of dialogue.
It was quite distressing that differences based on caste, religion, gender, class and regionalism continued to be the root cause of organised and often institutionalised violence, he noted in his address at a conference on National Value Crisis and Redressal.
Especially in the last few months, there have been several instances of senseless violence and disruption of routine life, he pointed out.
In a pluralistic society, differences were bound to be there, but these should be resolved amicably, the CJI said.
Acknowledging the allegations against higher judiciary in recent days, he said this had raised question on “who would watch the watchdog,” he said. He regretted that national values were deeply getting eroded.
In his valedictory address, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said it was sad that personal success had become the primary concern of a large section of people, including politicians and legal experts.
Unfortunately, this section had begun to think that values and principles were dispensable attributes and was therefore giving primacy only to personal successes and achievements, he felt.
“Public service, including politics and other society-oriented vocations, are no longer seen as noble activities for the benefit of the people…Politics, in particular, today is seen as all about the art of the possible, which signifies that neither the means nor the end matters,” Chatterjee said.
Further, the country was faced with intolerance, divisiveness, corruption, violence, conflict and disrespect for democratic dissent, which were seriously vitiating the political life, as well as social cohesion, he pointed out.
