A close dance of executive and judiciary is dangerous for democracy

The polarisation and the partisan nature of the politics of today's India will now be osmosed into the judicial branch which owes its sole allegiance to the Constitution, writes Rohin Bhatt.

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POST the release of the shocking videos of the Prime Minister visiting the Chief Justice of India (CJI)'s home, and praying to Lord Ganesha while the Chief Justice sings, there has been a spate of articles criticising the same, with people of far more experience at the Bar and far more learned than I am.

For example, senior advocate Indira Jaising, in the Indian Express writes that this is a violation of the oath of office by the CJI and raises multiple questions on the issue, while on the other hand, senior advocate Sriram Panchu has been far more charitable and has said, "It is likely that this arose from a polite invitation which was responded to, and the heads of the executive and the judiciary conducted themselves with propriety when they met. It is unlikely that any conversation would have transpired which should cause us alarm."

However, to a certain extent, the wider conversation around the constitutional imperative of the necessary friction between the executive and the judiciary has been missing in the public debates.

The question, however, is, what does this mingling mean for the future of our democracy? Or are these visuals being read into far too much?

At the outset, we must be clear on a few things: first, the government is the largest litigator before any court today. Given the system of checks and balances, it is clear that the judiciary is often sitting over the legal correctness of governmental action and legislation.