Chennai, Dec 9 Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai on Tueaday launched a sharp attack on the ruling DMK and the opposition INDIA bloc, accusing them of threatening the Constitution by using impeachment as a political weapon against the judiciary.
He said the bloc's repeated claims of protecting constitutional values were nothing more than hollow rhetoric.
In a strongly worded statement, Annamalai alleged that disqualification and impeachment proceedings were being misused by the DMK and the INDIA alliance as tools to intimidate judges and the judicial system.
Referring to the recent developments surrounding the order of Justice G. R. Swaminathan, Annamalai questioned the intent behind initiating impeachment steps when the Tamil Nadu government had already approached the Supreme Court of India against the verdict.
"When the State government itself has moved the Supreme Court seeking relief, what is the need for an impeachment notice?" he asked.
"Is this not a clear attempt to threaten the judiciary into submission?" Annamalai further alleged that the politics of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the INDIA bloc were driven entirely by minority appeasement, rather than a genuine commitment to constitutional principles.
"Their loud proclamations about safeguarding constitutional rights are merely theatrical. In reality, they are endangering the very foundations of the Constitution," he said.
Raising a series of pointed questions, the BJP leader asked whether the opposition was sending a message to the public that any judicial verdict it dislikes would be met with threats of impeachment.
"If a judgment does not suit the INDIA alliance, will they attempt to browbeat judges into surrender by hanging the sword of impeachment over their heads?" he asked.
Describing such a trend as a grave danger to democracy, Annamalai said there could be no greater threat to the Constitution than the politicisation of impeachment.
He accused both the DMK and the INDIA bloc of once again proving that "divisive politics" and "institutional pressure" were their primary political strategies.
"Independent institutions are the backbone of our democracy. The moment political alliances begin to treat the judiciary as an obstacle to be coerced rather than a pillar to be respected, the country enters dangerous territory," he warned.
The BJP has been consistently defending the judiciary in the wake of the Tirupparankundram hill verdict controversy, while the DMK and the INDIA bloc face mounting criticism from opposition parties for their impeachment move against a sitting High Court judge.
Notably, the judge had upheld the cultural and religious rights of devotees.
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