BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Saturday launched an attack on the Supreme Court just after a recent Supreme Court ruling, which said that the President and Governors of the States must give assent to Bills passed by the legislature within a specific timeframe.

Dubey was heard making public comments against the growing influence of the judiciary over the executive and legislature. The comments included the very strong rejection of what he called the judicial set of rules. "Supreme Court is responsible for inciting religious wars in the country. The Supreme Court is going beyond its limits. If one has to go to the Supreme Court for everything, then Parliament and the State Assembly should be shut,” he said. 

MP Dubey of Godda, Jharkhand, further questioned if the court's directions were constitutionally valid. "How can you give direction to the appointing authority? The President appoints the Chief Justice of India. The Parliament makes the law of this country. You will dictate that Parliament?... How did you make a new law? In which law is it written that the President has to take a decision within three months? This means that you want to take this country towards anarchy. When the Parliament sits, there will be a detailed discussion on this..." he stated.

VP Jagdeep Dhankhar also Also Reacts

Dhankhar earlier said that Article 142 had truly turned into a "nuclear missile against democratic forces" and that the judicial arm had "24x7 access" to it. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar joined the feud in objecting to the expanding powers of the judiciary. 

There is a directive to the President from a recent judgment. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy on this day. The President is called upon to decide in a time-bound manner, and if not, it becomes law. So we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super-parliament, and absolutely have no accountability because the law of the land does not apply to them," Mr Dhankhar had said. 

BJP Leaders Respond

Another BJP leader, Dinesh Sharma, added that the judiciary cannot interfere in the functioning of the legislature. "According to the Constitution of India, no one can direct the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and the President has already given her assent to it. No one can challenge the President, as the President is supreme," he told ANI.

However, BJP national president JP Nadda, also the Union Health Minister was quick to disassociate the party from the remarks made by both MPs. Nadda, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), clarified that the views expressed by Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma were in their personal capacity and did not reflect the stance of the party.

"The BJP has nothing to do with the statements made by BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma on the judiciary and the Chief Justice of the country. These are their personal statements, but the BJP neither agrees with such statements nor does it ever support such statements. The BJP completely rejects these statements," said Nadda. 

As a party, we believe that all the courts of the country, including the Supreme Court are an integral part of our democracy and are a strong pillar of the protection of the Constitution. I have instructed both of them and everyone else not to make such statements," said Mr Nadda.

Dubey's comments come amid hearings in several politically sensitive matters before the Supreme Court. Currently, the court is reviewing a number of petitions questioning the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

In the hearing held on April 17, the Central Government assured that it would not denotify any 'Waqf-by-user' properties or bring in a non-Muslim member on Waqf Boards. Earlier, the court had suggested it might be inclined to stay those provisions. The petitioners stated that the law violates their rights to equality and freedom of religion under several constitutional provisions.

This political background follows a Supreme Court ruling in a case involving Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, wherein the Supreme Court has declared illegal and arbitrary the withholding by the Governor of assent to ten Bills. It also prescribed a period of three months for the President or a Governor to give assent to the Bill, which is re-passed and recommended the President refer the Bills containing constitutional questions directly to the Supreme Court. 

Congress Outraged by Remarks of BJP MP

Congress has condemned Dubey's statements and accused the ruling party of insulting the judiciary. "Efforts are being made to weaken the Supreme Court. Different voices are deliberately coming up, and the Supreme Court is being targeted. There is the issue of electoral bonds, the issue of Waqf has come up, the issue of Election Commission is about to come," said Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary in charge of communication.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore called the comments of Dubey "defamatory". "This is a defamatory statement against the Supreme Court. Nishikant Dubey is a person who continuously demolishes all other institutions. Now, he has attacked the Supreme Court. I hope that the Supreme Court judges will take this into notice as he is not speaking in Parliament but outside it. His attack on the Supreme Court is not acceptable," Mr Tagore told news agency ANI.

Another Congress MP, Imran Masood, called the statements made by the BJP leaders ‘unfortunate’. "The kinds of statements that are coming against the Supreme Court are very unfortunate...This is not the first time that the Supreme Court has given a decision against the full majority government...This frustration is incomprehensible," Mr Masood said.