Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday lashed out at the INDIA bloc’s vice presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy, who is a retired Supreme Court Judge. Shah said that the latter’s judgment on Salwa Judum was the sole reason that Left Wing Extremism, which was on its deathbed, managed to survive for over two decades.

“He (Reddy) rejected Salwa Judum and ended the right of self-defence of tribals. Because of this, Naxalism lasted for more than two decades in this country. At that time, Naxalism was breathing its last. The tribals formed Salwa Judum to protect themselves. The Supreme Court rejected it. After this, the schools that were destroyed due to Naxalites, CRPF and security forces were present in those schools. They threw everyone out overnight by issuing an order. There were attacks on security forces at many places. Rahul Gandhi should answer these two judgments more than Sudershan Reddy,” said Shah.

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The Home Minister further said that ‘leftist ideology must have been the criterion’ for the INDIA bloc for selecting Sudershan Reddy as vice presidential candidate.

Amit Shah also took aim at Rahul Gandhi and demanded that the Congress leader should give an explanation for picking a nominee who “sympathised with left-wing ideology” and whose ruling that “disbanded” the “armed civilian vigilante group” prevented the eradication of Naxals before 2020. The July 2011 judgment, that Justice Reddy co-authored with Justice SS Nijjar disbanded Salwa Judum in Bastar, Chhattisgarh for being illegal and unconstitutional. The ruling was delivered while BJP under chief minister Raman Singh was in power in Chhattisgarh.

Justice Reddy’s ruling said that the Salwa Judum was an “abdication of constitutional responsibilities of the State to provide appropriate security to citizens by having an appropriately trained professional police force of sufficient numbers and properly equipped on a permanent basis”.

The Union Home Minister argued that by disbanding the vigilante group, Reddy had ended “self-defence” for Adivasis at a time when Naxalism was “gasping for breath.”

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“It is there on the Supreme Court records. He disbanded Salwa Judum. He ended the right to self-defence for Adivasis. This is the reason that Naxalism has sustained for two more decades. At that time, Naxalism was on the verge of dying. This is in the apex court’s record; it is their judgment,” Shah told ANI.

The ‘INDIA bloc’, which has also received support from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said that they are putting up an “ideological fight” against the ruling NDA who has nominated CP Radhakrishnan for the Septermber 9 Vice Presidential election.

Reddy, who served as Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court before being elevated to the Supreme Court in 2007, retired in July 2011. He filed his nomination on August 21 and will face NDA nominee CP Radhakrishnan in the September 9 Vice Presidential election. (With ANI inputs)