New Delhi/Bengaluru: The dramatic scene that unfolded inside the Supreme Court earlier this week has stirred the pot, with the Opposition blaming the “BJP-RSS ideology”, and terming it an attack on the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
On Monday, 71-year-old advocate Rakesh Kishore hurled a shoe at Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai inside the CJI’s court, Courtroom No. 1. Detained briefly, Kishore was let off the same day after the CJI directed the Supreme Court registry not to press charges.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has suspended Kishore’s legal practice and issued a show cause notice, but more than a thousand kilometres away, the incident is now taking the form of a poll issue in Bihar. Assembly elections are to be held in the state in two phases, 6 and 11 November, followed by counting of votes on 14 November.
On Tuesday, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar broke down while talking about the incident. “This pain is felt by all Dalits who associate themselves with the attack on B.R. Gavai. This attack on the Supreme Court is an insult to millions of Dalits. Gavai is busy strengthening the judicial system, yet people don’t come to receive him … Dalits have been subjected to this humiliation for centuries,” he said at a press interaction in Patna.
The Bihar Youth Congress too staged a protest against the incident. “An attack on the judiciary is an attack on democracy, and the country will never accept the RSS’s anti-constitution mindset,” it said in a post on X. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose party is allied with the Congress, said the incident was an “evil consequence” of an ongoing project to normalise hate and violence in the country.
According to the 2023 Bihar caste survey (Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana), Scheduled Castes (SCs) make up about 19.65 percent of Bihar’s population.
Reacting to criticism of the BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, Bihar BJP spokesperson Manoj Sharma said, “They (Congress) are not concerned about tribals or anyone but about their own politics.” Congress leaders, he added, are absolutely silent when “tribal leaders such as Khagen Murmu (BJP MP from West Bengal’s Maldaha Uttar) are attacked”.
Murmu was attacked by a mob during a visit to flood and landslide hit areas in northern Bengal earlier this week and is currently under treatment at a hospital in Siliguri.
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Congress blames ‘RSS mindset’, BJP says ‘politically motivated’
Advocate Rakesh Kishore’s actions invited condemnation from across the political spectrum, with PM Narendra Modi saying the incident “angered every Indian” and Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi terming it an “assault on the dignity of our judiciary”.
Speaking to ThePrint after the incident, Kishore said he had no regrets and that he was angered by the CJI’s oral remarks during an earlier hearing involving the reconstruction of a seven-foot Vishnu idol at Khajuraho’s Javari temple. Indicating that the top court could not intervene in the matter since the temple was a protected site, the CJI was quoted as having told the petitioner, “Go and ask the deity himself to do something.”
He later clarified that his remarks had been taken out of context, and that he “respects all religions”. Kishore, as he was being escorted out of Courtroom No. 1 after he hurled a show at the CJI, had reportedly yelled, “Sanatan ka apmaan nahin sahega Hindustan.”
(Hindustan will not tolerate the insult of Sanatan Dharma)
Away from Bihar and New Delhi, his reaction to the incident involving CJI Gavai landed former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao in hot water. Facing backlash, Rao tendered a public apology Wednesday for initially supporting Rakesh Kishore’s position.
The retired IPS officer, now a BJP panelist, wrote on X: “My reaction was one of aghast and shock that a person, despite being so highly educated, Aged and experienced such an action knowing fully the Consequences of a Terribly and Legally Wrong Act. I have not insulted the Supreme Court, nor Chief Justice or any Community.”
My reaction was one of aghast and shock that a person, despite being so highly educated, Aged and experienced such an action knowing fully the Consequences of a Terribly and Legally Wrong Act. , I have not insulted the Supreme Court, nor Chief Justice or any Community. If my…
— Bhaskar Rao (@Nimmabhaskar22) October 8, 2025
In an earlier post, Rao had lauded the advocate’s “courage”.
“Even if it is Legally & Terribly Wrong, I admire your courage, at your age, to take a stand and live by it, irrespective of Consequences,” he wrote on X, responding to a post by a user named ‘Rakesh Kishore’. It later turned out that the handle was not linked to the advocate.
Even if it is Legally & Terribly Wrong, I admire your courage, at your age, to take a stand and live by it, irrespective of Consequences 🙏
— Bhaskar Rao (@Nimmabhaskar22) October 7, 2025
Rao, a 1990-batch IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre, had sought voluntary retirement in September 2021. His request was granted in December 2022. In April that year, he had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but the association did not last long. Rao parted ways with the AAP and joined BJP in March 2023, ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, which he unsuccessfully contested from Bengaluru’s Chamrajpet seat on a BJP ticket.
Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, meanwhile, linked Rakesh Kishore’s actions to the “RSS mindset”.
“If we don’t get rid of the RSS mindset that is fast seeping into our society, we will not progress as a country,” Kharge wrote on X.
“I have no regrets”
– Rakesh Kishore
If we don’t get rid of the RSS mindset that is fast seeping into our society, we will not progress as a country. pic.twitter.com/CmYmCSewlm
— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) October 8, 2025
In Maharashtra, too, the Opposition cited the incident involving CJI Gavai to take on the ruling BJP-led alliance. Lok Sabha MP working president of the NCP (SP), which is part of the INDIA bloc, Supriya Sule led a March in her parliamentary constituency Baramati. Workers of INDIA bloc parties, including NCP (SP), Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) also gathered at Chhatrapati Shivaji Chowk in Kolhapur Wednesday to protest the incident.
Congress’s Udit Raj, meanwhile, suggested without presenting any evidence to support his theory that the decision by CJI Gavai’s mother to turn down an invitation to attend an RSS centenary programme could have been one of the reasons for the incident.
“OBC reservation was implemented in the Supreme Court. The same happened during the Mandal era too; the father went along with the Dalits and OBCs against the Mandal Commission. Mr Gavai’s mother had rejected the RSS invitation, that could also be a reason,” he said.
Reacting to the incident, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari said several members of the BJP and affiliated organisations are spreading hatred in the name of religion and caste. “Their main targets are people of SC and ST communities, the weaker sections of society. My concerns proved to be right with what happened at the Apex Court in this BJP rule.”
The Youth Congress also staged protests in parts of the country, while Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “… if such an ideology exists among lawyers of the Supreme Court, it is an insult to the Constitution”. Adding, “Those who talk of depriving people of their fundamental rights in the name of Manusmriti should be punished.”
BJP national spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan told ThePrint Wednesday that “associating any random incident to BJP or RSS is politically motivated”.
“As far as we are concerned the honourable Prime Minister timely, through his tweet, condemned this incident and has appreciated the calmness of honourable CJI Justice B.R. Gavai. The Congress has absolutely zero moral authority and locus standi to comment on social justice. It is under PM Modi that the country has witnessed the first ever tribal President of India, and OBC Vice President and the PM himself comes from a humble OBC background. We have a Dalit Chief Justice,” he said.
Adding, “We have a Union law minister who, after Ambedkar, comes from the Dalit community… The statement (of Bihar Congress chief) reflects the hypocrisy of the Congress party.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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