"Average Lawyer": Kiren Rijiju Attacks Kapil Sibal Over Cash-At-Home Row

Dismissing Kapil Sibal as an "average lawyer", Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday said Parliament cannot be dictated by one MP's "personal agenda".

Mr Rijiju's attack came after Mr Sibal said the opposition must not support any move by the government to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma till an inquiry is set up under impeachment proceedings against Justice Shekhar Yadav for his "communal" remarks.

"I got information about Kapil Sibal's effort to protect somebody and to move against somebody. What I have realised is that Kapil Sibal is a senior person, but he is only driven by his personal agenda.

"He doesn't have a concern for anybody. I have requested him to also spend some time in Parliament. He thinks that he can sermonise the MPs and then go back to court," Mr Rijiju told PTI in an interview when asked about Mr Sibal's remarks on the removal of the judges concerned.

The Union minister said. "He (Sibal) does not realise that many MPs have gone far beyond him in terms of understanding, intellectuality, in terms of knowledge. The far super citizen, he is a very average lawyer, but he has been put into such a thing... that he is the person who will shed light on everything. He can't guide the Parliament of India." 

Noting that Parliament will be guided by all its members, Mr Rijiju said, "We will not be driven by one lawyer MP's agenda. We are not here to set an agenda or drive an agenda. We are working purely in the interest of the country." 

"Why should one person be running around? He has no business guiding Parliament. Parliament is to be guided by all the members combined," the minister said.

The Parliamentary Affairs minister said he would not take a stand on the issue of the removal motion of any judge or any proposal in hand because the Parliament session is going to begin on July 21.

Mr Rijiju asserted that Parliament is the only forum to remove a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Courts, and that is the rule.

They cannot be removed by any other platform because Parliament is the highest elected platform, he noted, adding that the people of India elect their representatives in Parliament.

Mr Sibal has been vocal on the petition for the removal of Justice Shekhar Yadav, signed by 55 Rajya Sabha MPs of several opposition parties, which he claimed has been pending since December 2024. He has also accused the government of "trying to protect" Justice Yadav.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)