Shah had earlier claimed that Reddy’s role in the Salwa Judum judgment "ended the tribal people’s right to self-defence" and prolonged the Naxal insurgency by two decades. Shah’s statements were severely criticised for public misreading of Supreme Court’s judgement.
Published Sep 01, 2025 | 9:24 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 01, 2025 | 9:24 PM
Justice Sudershan Reddy in Hyderabad today
Synopsis: INDIA bloc’s Vice-Presidential candidate, Justice Sudershan Reddy, on Monday countered Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s charge that he was a “Naxal sympathiser” for delivering the 2011 judgment that disbanded Salwa Judum. He recalled that the ruling had the unanimous backing of the Supreme Court and urged those making the allegations to read the judgment before drawing conclusions.
In the run-up to the Vice-Presidential contest, former Supreme Court judge Sudershan Reddy, the INDIA bloc candidate, for the first time directly countered Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegation that he was a “Naxal sympathiser” for delivering a 2011 judgment outlawing the counterinsurgency vigilante group Salwa Judum.
“Please read the judgment. If it shows I supported anyone, I will bow to you and respect your words,” he said.
“When you are talking about a Supreme Court judgment, you should do so after reading it. And to top it off, what do they mean it’s my judgment? It’s the Supreme Court’s judgment, incidentally, I just authored it.”
He pointed out that the verdict, which disbanded the state-backed vigilante militia, had the full backing of the Court.
“Before and after me, 11 judges heard the case. None of them changed a single thing about the judgment,” he noted.
Reddy was speaking at a press conference in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills on Monday, 1 September, flanked by Telangana Congress leadership, including Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, TPCC president Mahesh Goud, and a host of Congress leaders, MLAs, MLCs and MPs.
Shah had earlier claimed that Reddy’s role in the Salwa Judum judgment “ended the tribal people’s right to self-defence” and prolonged the Naxal insurgency by two decades.
Without raising his voice, Justice Reddy made it clear he was prepared for both scrutiny and dialogue.
Justice Reddy responded at length to the charge that the Salwa Judum ruling was a reflection of his ideological leanings.
Recalling a recent conversation in Delhi, he said, “The other day somebody asked me in Delhi: ‘This person [Amit Shah] is calling you this thing [Naxal], right?'” His way of answering, he suggested, was to point critics back to the Constitution itself.
“I asked them to read the Directive Principle. If governments which look to implement the Directive Principles and their policies belong to that ideology, then I belong to that ideology,” he said, referring to the principles of state policy enshrined in the Constitution.
Reddy elaborated on what he meant by this alignment. “What do they say? Income should not be centralised. Practise gender equality. These are the things in the Constitution. When I talk about these things, they say I belong to so and so,” he explained.
Furthermore, he suggested that some politicians were reacting without reading the judgment, with a sharp aside: “These secretaries come and whisper in their ears, and they say something. That’s what gets them into trouble.”
Rather than treating the attacks as hostile, Reddy said he welcomed the debate.
“A conversation has started around a judgment. I welcome it. They thought calling me that might intimidate me. But I am prepared to face the challenge and enter a dialogue with them,” he said.
Justice Sudershan Reddy also drew a clear line on how his candidature is described, terming himself a representative of all opposition parties, not just those aligned with the INDIA bloc.
Correcting Telangana CM Revanth Reddy’s earlier remarks where he called him the INDIA bloc candidate, the former judge said, “I would like to correct you on that. I am not a candidate of INDIA. I am the candidate of all opposition parties.”
To underline the distinction, he shared a conversation with Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
“After I was announced as a candidate in the Vice-Presidential race, I met Arvind Kejriwal. He told me that he was not part of the INDIA, but would support me in the elections to the best of his abilities. Not just him, many smaller opposition parties have also shown support to me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy called for unity among all Telugu parties in electing Sudershan Reddy as Vice-President.
“I’m calling on Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chandrashekar Rao, and Asaduddin Owaisi to come together in support of Justice Sudershan Reddy,” he said.
“Today, these elections are between the NDA’s attempts to change the Constitution and destroy reservations and INDIA’s attempts to safeguard the Constitution and increase the reservations,” he proposed.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
