A court hall is, however, an unlikely setting for such parleys.
But that is what transpired on Tuesday afternoon when the hearing in the challenge to sedition law before Supreme Court threw up the late freedom fighter’s name.
It started when Congress leader and Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal who was representing one of the petitioners challenging the law, said that former PM Nehru had echoed similar sentiments regarding Section 124A which criminalises sedition.
“We are in post-constitution era. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said that this provision is obnoxious and the sooner we get rid of sedition the better,” Sibal said.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Central government, then responded by stating that the current government is actually acting on it.
The SG was referring to the fact that the Central government had decided to reexamine Section 124A in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s concern for liberties and rights.
“What Nehru couldn’t do, the current government is doing. We are trying to do, what Pandit Nehru could not do then,” quipped the Solicitor General.
Source: Barandbench
