Shoe Thrown at CJI and Impunity to Hate Mongers
Imagine such an atrocious act of throwing shoe at CJI was done by someone with a Muslim name!
[Grok AI image for representation]
Advocate Rakesh Kishore hurled his shoe on Chief Justice of India, B.R. Gavai (Oct. 2025). The background was that while giving his verdict on a PIL filed by the advocate asking for restoration of Hindu Lord Vishnu idol’s head, in one of the temples in Khajuraho, Justice Gavai stated that this matter is not PIL but a personal publicity move. The petitioner should have gone to the ‘Archeological Society of India’ or should have asked the deity to restore its head.
This comment infuriated Rakesh Kishore. As per him the Lord appeared in his dream and asked him to take action. He also said this was a motivation to do the act of throwing his shoe on the CJI, who happens to be the second Dalit and first Buddhist to occupy the highest legal office of the country. The attack of this sort is also very reflective of the plight of Dalits in current dispensation.
At the same time, Justice Gavai’s mother was invited as Chief Guest at an RSS event in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. She declined the invitation saying that she is an Ambedkarite and will not be able to attend this program. One recalls here that the RSS’s agenda of Hindu Rashtra is unfolding at a rapid pace and only ideologically blinded people may not be able to discern this. The likes of Justice Gavai’s mother must be remembering Babasaheb Ambedkar opposing the demand of Pakistan on the ground that this may pave the way for Hindu Raj, which will be a calamity for the Country. (Ambedkar, revised edition of book ‘Pakistan or Partition of India’)
At the same time, a right-wing influencer Ajeet Bharati on social media wrote something derogatory against the CJI. When the media was abuzz that action may be taken against him, he said, “The government is ours. The system is ours,” Bharti posted, in Hindi, late evening on October 7.
Just before that, he wrote another X post: “If the entire system were against me, I wouldn't be out and about, having coffee, roasted almonds, and cashews. The entire system is with me, that is, your system — the system of our ideas. Disagreements will continue to happen, but we are all one, having been, and will remain. I am grateful to all of you. Jai Sri Ram!”
On his part, Justice Gavai told the Court officials to ignore the incident and go ahead with further work, not making it a point of distraction. With a magnanimous heart, the CJI also asked that no action should be taken against Kishore.
Later on, the Police action was to call him to the police station and retrun his shoe after a chit chat. Now FIRs are being filed against Kishore at different places.
As far as Bharati is concerned he was also called to the police station, treated to a warm cup of tea and was allowed to let go!
Imagine such an atrocious act of throwing shoe at CJI was done by someone with a Muslim name! By now all the NSA and other such clauses would have been put against him.
As far as CJI’s comments on appealing to deity, a lot of ruckus has been created on the social media, as an insult of Sanatan. Even Rakesh shouted “Sanatan ka Aapman: Nahin Sahega Hindustan (Insult to Sanatan will not be tolerated by India)!
Incidentally, the slogan began with ‘Say with Pride we are Hindus’ (Garv se Kaho hum Hindu hain) but now instead of Hindu word sanatan is used as the flag bearer of RW politics.
One of the main reasons for the formation of RSS, the major vehicle of Hindutva Nationalism and Hindu Rashtra, was to confront the rising awareness amongst Dalits about their exploitation by the Landlord-Clergy alliance. So RSS always upheld the Caste-Varna as its anchor, the values of Manu Smiti being articulated by its earlier ideologues. Today, its articulation has become cleverer, where on one hand they say that all castes are equal and as far as policies are concerned they ensure that atrocities on Dalits and their social marginalization is implemented far and wide.
This marginalization and intimidation of Dalits has become more intense after 2014, when BJP came to full majority on its own. The rise in anti-Dalit crimes is not for the first time, but ever since the BJP-led NDA government came to power in 2014, their incidence has climbed significantly. [Crimes against Dalits and Adivasis have increased by 27.3% and 20.3%, respectively in 2018.]
As per data provided by Scholar Anand Teltumde “The assault on Gavai thus mirrors the broader social pattern where caste violence persists amid formal equality. Over 55,000 cases of atrocities against Dalits are registered each year; on average, four Dalits are murdered and a dozen Dalit women are raped every day.”
This incident was not taken seriously by the state; we have seen the attitude of the police. PM Modi woke up to the negative electoral impact of this on the Dalit voters and the maximum he did was to come out with a bland tweet.
On one hand, it is the affirmative action given by our Constitution that people like Gavai have risen to such heights in the Indian judicial system. On the other, the social attitud towards Dalits and women have not changed in tune with the democratic norms. After the yeomen efforts of Dr. Ambedkar was also backed up by Gandhi's marathon efforts to fight against prevalent untouchability in the society. The social norms started changing to some extent. But the roots of those prejudices and biases against Dalits were not rooted out completely.
Ambedkar and Gandhi emphasized on inter-caste marriages to root out the rigidities and atrocities wrought by the caste system. Last 3-4 decades have seen the rise not only in the widening gulf between religions, but parallel to this, the caste system is also getting a boost due to the rising sectarianism. One sectarianism strengthens the other. That is at the core of what the ilk of Rakesh Kishore are manifesting and the likes of Ajeet Bharati tell us that due to the right wing party being in power, these elements get an assurance about going scot free. They do enjoy close to absolute impunity.
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