Nov 17: God has no religion said Mahatma Gandhi but Supreme Court of India set an example by saying that God has many names as Allah, Ishwar or Deva.
Rejecting a Special Leave Petition filed by Madhu Parmula, Vice President of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Kerala to disqualify 11 MLAs on the ground that they had taken their oath in the name of Allah last year. The bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran gave the above mentioned interpretation of God.
Madhu Paramula cited that these MLAs took oath in the name of Allah instead of God which is mentioned in our Constitution in Article 188.
The petitioner challenged that the Constitution mentioned only 'God' and therefore the 11 MLAs had swerved from the 3 rd Schedule when they took the oath swearing by Allah.
The bench dismissing his rationale said, “If an elected representative cannot read English and the oath has to be translated into his mother tongue, the word 'God' has also to be translated and it could be Ishwar or Deva”. However, Allah in Arabic means the same. So, what is the problem if the MLAs had taken oath in the name of Allah?
The petitioner also cited the example of Umesh Challiyil, an MLA who took oath in the name of ‘Sree Narayan Guru’, a religious guru worshipped in Ezhava Community and subsequently Kerala High Court ordered him not to sit in the assembly till he was administered a fresh oath and imposed a fine of Rs 500 per day, if he continues to attend the proceedings of the house.
In his argument the petitioner said, “Tomorrow, any constitutional post holder can take the oath in the name of anyone, if this violation of constitutional provision is allowed”.
The bench said that though ‘Sree Narayan Guru’ is highly respected but could not be equated with ‘God’ as he was a human being and taking the oath in the name of a person is unconstitutional.
The bench further said that no human being could be elevated to the position of God for the purpose of taking oath.
The court while dismissing the petition said, “You are also indulging in publicity by filing such a petition” though Paramula borderlined that these MLAs had sworn in the name of Allah only to gain popularity while filling their nomination papers.
Such petition raises eyebrows as why the makers of our constitution did not foresee that in modern India people will make issue out of nothing as it did the same in this case.
It reminds me of a saying when an atheist talks to a theist, “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours”.
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