Desperate people resort to desperate things.

In yet another desperate, unprecedented and cynical move, the Congress and some other like-minded parties are believed to bring an impeachment motion in Parliament against Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra in the coming days. A draft proposal for moving an impeachment motion against Justice Misra has been already circulated, and a lot of opposition parties (NCP, SP, CPI-M) have signed it. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s also seems to be on board after her meeting with senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

It came nearly two months after the virtual ‘mutiny,’ the unprecedented January 12 press conference of four senior-most judges, who accused the Chief Justice of India of putting the democracy at risk. In their press conference, Justices J S Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had alleged that the Chief Justice was abusing his position as “master of the roster” not to assign important cases to them and such cases were being assigned to a bench of preference comprising junior judges.

Sadly, D Raja of the Communist Party spoiled the plan by getting caught on camera, 'coincidentally' meeting Justice Chelameswar. But D Raja assured people that Justice Chelameswar had been his old acquaintance, and the meeting was nothing political. Ironically later on in Rajya Sabha, he asked a question about the same press conference.

Immediately after the event, and even before CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury had mooted the idea of the impeachment of the CJI to the media, Prakash Karat messed it up further by demanding that 'only' the collegium judges (the Four) should hear Ram Mandir case.

However, the Union government led by PM Modi had conducted itself with dignity, contrary to expectations of many and desisted from interfering in the matter or even commenting upon it.

On the other side, Justice Misra stayed calm but did not wince at calling the 'four' judges to meetings in his chamber. People thought that the issue was settled ignoring the fact that it will take more than time to fill this wedge in the nation’s highest court.

Most of the "Congress-like-minded" parties feel that the CJI has not as yet addressed the issues first raised by the four and an impeachment motion had become inevitable. Senior leaders of Congress party Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma carried extensive internal discussions before the party took the final stand.  Several Opposition leaders intensified their efforts to arrive at a common position to give a notice for a motion.

The petition is expected to be submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu in the next one or two working days, and only then we will have a sense of whether they will go ahead with the motion. If it happens, this will be the first time any motion to remove a sitting Chief Justice would be moved in Parliament.

The removal of the CJI, or any judge, is a cumbersome constitutional process. A judge can be removed only on the ground of proven misconduct or incapacity. The submission of the impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha requires the support of a minimum 50 members of the House, 100 MPs in case of the Lok Sabha. However, the Chairman/speaker may or may not admit the motion. If it is admitted, it constitutes a three-member committee to investigate the charges. If the committee finds the judge to be guilty, the House can take up the motion for consideration. Once the house (any of the two in which it was initially admitted), passes it with a special (2/3rd) majority, it then goes to the other house, which has to pass it with a special majority as well.

Only twice before in the history of the country that Parliament has initiated proceedings for the removal of a judge. The first of them was Justice V. Ramaswami. BJP and Left parties submitted a notice of motion to the Indian Parliament seeking his removal from office. The speaker of Lok Sabha Rabi Ray constituted a three-member committee to investigate the charges of ostentatious expenditure on his official residence, which found Justice Ramaswami guilty of 11 out of 14 charges.

None other than Kapil Sibal of Congress  defended Justice Ramaswami's case and pitched a north-south divide to give an impression that he is targeted because he is a judge from the south. At that time the Congress government was led by PV Narasimha Rao. Out of 401 members present that day, there were 196 votes for impeachment and no votes against and 205 abstentions by the ruling Congress and its allies. The motion thus failed to pass although the Judge was proven guilty.

The only other judge to have faced the removal proceedings is Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court on Justice Sen was held guilty of misappropriation of public funds he received in his capacity as receiver appointed by the High Court of Calcutta. The probe panel set up by Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari said the charges were duly proved and were 'guilty of misbehavior.'

The Rajya Sabha passed the impeachment motion by an overwhelming majority. But ahead of the impeachment motion against him in the Lok Sabha, he resigned, and the Lok Sabha decided to drop the impeachment proceedings against him for the same reason.

It is evident that the opposition neither has any merit nor have the numbers to remove the Chief Justice even if all other requirements of a complicated constitutional process are met. Then what is this brouhaha about?

The reality was expressed by Arnab Goswami, who had the guts to call out this move to impeach the CJI for what it is: 'Political blackmail.' Even if the motion has no chance of passage, it will act as a “deterrent and pressure point” to ensure that the executive cannot influence the judiciary.

This highly political impeachment motion also proves that the senior Judges' protest two months ago was merely a politically motivated stunt.

On 5th December 2017, Kapil Sibal, representing the Sunni Wakf board, appealed that the hearings in the Ram Janmabhoomi Case to be postponed until the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. CJI Dipak Misra, who was hearing the case not only rejected the plea, he also said that the court is anguished and thoroughly disapproves of the lawyers' conduct. "Raising voices will never be tolerated. Argue on legal principles. Raising voice shows incompetency not worthy of senior lawyers," he said.

It was an apparent contempt of the 'establishment!' Congress party that ruled the nation for half a century and also after being voted out of power through its stooges in all sections of administration is the establishment. Congress always toyed with the Judiciary. Be it Indira Gandhi during the emergency, Rajiv Gandhi in the Shah Bano case or Sonia Gandhi on day-to-day basis controlling the Courts through Sibal-Setalwad-Bhushan kind of network.

The virtual mutiny unleashed on the 12th of January was establishment's show of power to tame the CJI, to tell him to behave. But this legal luminary from Odisha, known to have in-depth knowledge of ancient Indian scriptures, did not stumble. A week later, CJI Dipak Misra assigned the CBI Special Judge Loya death case to a three-judge bench led by himself.

Few chief justices of India have had such volatile tenure, yet, in just over six months, he has put his stamp on the judiciary. It is an irony that the CJI instrumental in bringing down the pendency of cases drastically in a country suffering from the humongous burden of case backlogs is used to settle political scores.

Justice Misra has adjudicated many cases that will leave behind a legacy for his successors that bears his unmistakable stamp.

•    Adjudged the highly sensitive Passive Euthanasia and Living Will judgment.

•    The high-profile Nirbhaya case judgment - A case of unbelievable brutality Justice Misra   had commented: “If ever a case called for hanging, this was it.”

•    Yakub Memon judgment - in an unprecedented sitting of a Supreme Court bench, at 3.18 am (verdict being announced at 4.50 am), the three-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, PC Pant, and Amitava Roy rejected Prashant Bhushan's appeal of leniency.

•    The Cauvery water dispute judgment with no significant protest or upheaval.

•     Ordered the SIT to reopened the cases of 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom.

•    Was instrumental in the BCCI's overhaul.

•    Puts the Ram Janmbhoomi Case on the fast track.

At this moment too, Justice Misra is handling two constitution bench hearings, both matters of high importance, the Aadhar linkage case and the death of CBI Special Judge BH Loya apart from the Ram Janmbhoomi Case. Very recently he also formed constitution bench allowing examination of Polygamy and Nikah Halala. Now the Congress, Left, and 'like-minded' parties' proposal to impeach him are understandable.

It is evidently clear that there is no merit in this impeachment motion and the only link is expecting a verdict in favor of the Hindu groups in the Ram Mandir case that has got the opposition parties so much worked up. Ghanshyam Tiwari of SP may claim that "SP stands with impeachment motion which is about bringing independence & unquestionable integrity to the judiciary," but in a nutshell, the Congress-led secular parties are bringing Impeachment against Chief Justice of India to delay the verdict on the Ram Janbhoomi case to appease Minority voters.

CJI Dipak Misra's proposed impeachment move is another desperate & diversionary move, a Congress strategy of creating chaos & confusion. It is a crude attempt to stall the verdict on the Ram Janmbhoomi case. Congress party is either evidently believes that it can never come back to power with people's mandate or it is utterly devious and brazenly subversive bunch of crooks. It is one of the most depressing political development in the history of India.