Mumbai:
The Shiv Sena has taken on the judiciary in a stinging editorial slamming the Supreme Court's move to lift the ban on bar dancers in Maharashtra and raising the question - are courts ruling the country?
"Governments should be run by politicians, not by courts," said an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna today, taunting the top court. "If the courts have to interfere, the judges better come in as elected representatives."
The editorial said it was a "trend in the courts to rubbish legislations or decisions passed by the governments and rap them for the same."
"Is this a move to 'sell' Mumbai as a nightlife hotspot?' wondered the Sena.
In a move that had joined all Maharashtra parties including the Shiv Sena and the Congress in rare unity, the state government had banned bar dancers in 2005 calling them obscene and a breeding ground for criminals. The move was struck down by the Bombay High Court, but the state appealed to the Supreme Court against it.
While allowing bar dancers to return to work, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, upheld the Bombay High Court's ruling that the ban on bar dancers violates the constitutional right to earn a living.
But in no-holds barred attack on the top court, the Sena mouthpiece said: "Nowhere does it say in the Constitution that courts are entitled to poke their nose into each and every matter. This only interferes with governance."