Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi trashed Jaitley's comment that Katju was “more Congress than Congress” questioning whether everybody who has criticised Modi was a Congress plant.
“I am astonished at the outburst (of Jaitley). Over the last eleven years, people of all colours, parties, persuasions and views have at different times criticised and even condemned Modi. Does it mean all of them are Congressmen?
“Anybody who criticised Modi becomes a Congress plant. In that case, thousands of people of the country - unconnected with politics, connected with politics, whosoever has done so must be treated as a Congress member,” Singhvi said.
Slamming Jaitley for his “venomous” attack on the PCI chairman, Digvijay Singh said that Katju had always been impartial and at the same time very sensitive to the people's cause.
“Why did Mr Arun Jaitley keep quiet when he brought out the issues against the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, against the Chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, against the Home ministry in the arrest of Iftekhar Gilani?
“When he sort of publicly rebutted the police in the case of gangrape in Delhi, he kept quiet on those occasions,” the Congress leader added.
“The fact is that they (BJP) are a fascist ideology who can't take criticism ....Who believe in either you are my way or the highway,” Singh said.
Katju said Jaitley “has made reckless remarks against me, called me a megalomaniac and all kinds of most derogatory language he has used. It was most unbefitting of a person who claims to be of his stature. So, infact, he should resign and take ‘sanyas'. He is not fit to be in politics.”
In Patna, senior JD (U) leader Sanjay Jha today attacked Katju for his charge against the Bihar government of tring to “arm-twist” the press and asked him to stop acting as a “Congress agent” by targetting non-Congress governments.
“He (Katju) should uphold the decency of a high constitutional post like that of PCI Chairman and stop behaving like a Congress agent,” Jha told PTI.
Jha, a close confidant of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said that if Katju was not convinced of transformation in Bihar under NDA rule, he should go and have dialogue with noble laureates like the Dalai Lama, Amrtya Sen and nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz who have appreciated the turnaround in the state.
Reacting sharply on observation of a PCI team consituted by Katju which assailed Nitish Kumar government for “arm-twisting” the press leading to explosive situation for the survival of democracy, Jha said since development works were going on on a large scale, the media was publishing “growth stories and not finding much negative news”.
“Some media organisations particularly regional TV channels for commercial considerations are bringing out outlandish news against the government which is far away from truth,” he said and described the PCI report as “motivated”.
Jha suggested Katju to find out how much time state media like DD and Akshwani were giving to highlight good works of non-Congress governments.
Saying that the Bihar government has adopted a “transparent” advertisement policy Jha said any national policy on advertisements would be welcomed by his party.
Meanwhile, Justice Katju has been praised by noted jurist Fali S Nariman for his newspaper article which was critical of Narendra Modi.
Nariman, in an email sent on Friday to Justice Katju, which was released to the media by the PCI chief, said the article was “outstanding”.
“I already telephoned and told you how pleased we were with the article in this morning's HINDU, but I must place it on record. It is an outstanding (article), it needed to be said by a person who doesn't merely pretend to support human rights but lives it every moment of his life,” Nariman said.
Jaitley and Katju were on Sunday locked in a bitter war of words over the latter's article with the two asking each other to resign.
Jaitley dubbed Katju as “more Congress than the Congress” and said his attacks on non-Congress governments whether in West Bengal, Bihar or Gujarat seem more in the nature of “thanks-giving” to those who provided him with a post- retirement job.” He demanded that Katju resign from his post.
The PCI chief, a former Supreme Court judge, hit back at Jaitley accusing him of twisting facts and asked him to quit politics.
Modi also waded into the row accusing Katju of looking at Gujarat with a “jaundiced eye” and said Jaitley's counter to the former Supreme Court judge was “insightful” in demolishing “lies” spread about Gujarat. Modi's response came on Twitter.
Rubbishing charges of being partisan, Katju said he had written “very strong” letters to Congress-ruled Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over the arrest of two girls for a Facebook post after the death of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
