NEW DELHI: Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who was nominated to Rajya Sabha as a member by the NDA government in March last year, on Thursday said that he remained independent of party affiliations and would not be amiss in faulting the government when the need arises.
In relation to his autobiographical account ‘Justice for the Judge’, TOI asked, “You in the book said that you have not opted for party affiliation within six months of taking oath as a MP and hence you remain independent of the party in power that nominated you to Parliament. But somewhere in the back of the mind, one remains obligated to the party that had nominated the person to Rajya Sabha as a MP. Your thoughts.”
Justice Gogoi said, “I don’t share this perception. If I come across an occasion to find fault with the government, rest assured, I will find it. But, look at the sequence of events since March 2020 when I came to Parliament. There is hardly any sitting — first, because of the pandemic and then because of disruptions. Once things settle down, I will try to project matters of public importance in the manner it requires to be projected, regardless of who nominated me and who did not support that nomination.”
“After my retirement as CJI, when rumours swirled of me being the BJP candidate for the CM’s post in Assam , my mother called me one night, saying, ‘Don’t even think about it!’ She hung up once I convinced her that the news was nothing but a rumour.”
In his book, Justice Gogoi writes, “I did not even remotely think there was anything wrong in accepting the offer (for his nomination to Rajya Sabha) or that it would be inviting the kind of adverse comments. Even in my wildest imagination, if it had occurred to me that people would have publicly aired their ‘views’ and ‘thoughts’ in such a manner, I would probably have thought twice before accepting nomination.”
