"Can Trigger Narrative": Veep After Top Court's CBI "Caged Parrot" Remark

Days after a Supreme Court judge said that the CBI must dispel the notion of it being a caged parrot, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has said all organs of the State need to work in tandem, and that institutions work under tight situations and observations can de-spirit them, set off a political debate and can trigger a narrative.

The Vice President, who has had a long and illustrious career as a lawyer, made the remarks at the inauguration ceremony of Samvidhan Mandir at Mumbai's Elphinstone Technical High School and Junior College yesterday.

"All organs of the state -- Judiciary, Legislature, and Executive -- have a single purpose: to ensure the success of the fundamental spirit of the Constitution, to guarantee all rights to the common people, and to help India prosper and flourish," he said.

"They need to work in tandem and togetherness to nurture and blossom democratic values and further constitutional ideals. An Institution is well served when it is conscious of certain limitations. Some limitations are obvious, some limitations are very fine, they are subtle. Let these sacred platforms - judiciary, legislature and executive -- not be trigger points of political inflammatory debate or narrative that is detrimental to the established institutions that serve the nation well in a challenging and daunting environment," the Vice President added.

"Our Institutions, all kinds of Institutions -- Elections Commission, the investigative agencies they perform duty under tight situations, an observation can despirit them. It can set a political debate afloat. It can trigger a narrative. We have to be extremely conscious about our Institutions. They are robust, they are working independently, they are under checks and balances. They work under rule of law. In that situation, if we work in a manner to just generate some sensation, to become a focal point or epicenter of a political debate or a narrative that I will appeal to the concerned is wholly avoidable," Mr Dhankhar said in his remarks.

Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan made the strong remarks in his judgment on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest by the CBI in a case linked to alleged irregularities in Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy. The court granted Mr Kejriwal bail, six months after his arrest. While Justice Surya Kant did not find the arrest illegal, Justice Bhuyan wrote in a separate judgment that the CBI is a premier investigating agency and must be seen to be above board.

"In a functional democracy governed by the rule of law, perception matters. Like Caesar's wife, an investigating agency must be above board. Not long ago, this court has castigated the CBI comparing it to a caged parrot. It is imperative that CBI dispels the notion of it being a caged parrot. Rather, the perception should be that of an uncaged parrot," he said.

The judge's remarks prompted the Aam Aadmi Party to launch a scathing attack on the BJP-led central government and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. "The Union home minister should resign as this raises questions on him. The Supreme Court called the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) a caged parrot," Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told the media after the top court's judgment.