Minutes after Supreme Court struck down electoral bonds, a familiar face was back on national television, explaining the import of the order. SC lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan is famous for being the last refuge of near-lost causes, whether it is about rations for migrant workers or the choosing of election commissioners, bringing political parties under RTI or taking on powerful businesses.
Speaking to TOI, Bhushan had a measured take on the judgment’s impact: “One swallow does not make a summer. But it is an important and strong judgment that will have a deep impact on the transparency of political funding.”
One of the petitioners, Maj Gen (retd) Anil Verma, who leads the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), was more effusive, saying that the order had restored people’s faith in democracy and rule of law. “But while we appreciate this judgment, there are many other issues related to elections that need to be addressed.”
Bhushan’s work in public interest litigation has supported protest groups and environmental causes, taken on high-stakes corruption and matters of governance. “Prashant Bhushan’s career has been instrumental in shaping the character of PILs since the mid-80s,” legal scholar Anuj Bhuwania had told TOI in an earlier interview.
He represented people who banded together to form Narmada Bachao Andolan, Bhopal gas disaster survivors and those protesting nuclear power in Kudankulam. His Centre for Public Interest Litigation has also taken on causes that few would: Enron and Reliance being given the right to develop the Panna-Mukta oil fields, for instance, the 2G and coal allocation cases, Indo-US nuclear deal that took on UPA, and Sahara diaries that drew in Modi.
In 2009, he represented activist Subhash Aggarwal to bring SC and high court judges, including the chief justice of India, under RTI. His firm belief was that people had a right to know details of assets owned by judges.
In 2023 his intervention along with that of petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj, Jagdeep Chhokar and Harsh Mander led SC to direct states to provide ration cards under NFSA to 8 crore workers not covered under the Food Security Act. This ensured food security for migrant workers in the unorganised sector.
Bhardwaj, from the Satark Nagrik Sangathan says, “He has consistently represented progressive movements, peoples’ struggles and causes in public interest. His efforts have helped take important matters to courts and bring public attention to issues like migrant workers’ rights and vacancies in information commissions.”
But Bhushan’s pivot towards politics left him disenchanted. In the 2010-2015 period, he started with joining the Anna movement and was founder-member of AAP. He left AAP. And once a big target of his attacks, Congress is now Bhushan’s pick as an alternative to the present political dispensation. In recent times he has expressed confidence in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
But he also has a penchant for courting controversy: from tweeting about a sitting CJI’s “corruption” to publicly dissing masks and vaccines during Covid as a govt conspiracy. He has long supported the view that EVMs are manipulable and has approached courts for a comprehensive probe on the issue. After voicing his views on a plebiscite in Kashmir, he was assaulted by right-wing vigilantes.
In 2020 he was charged for defamation but got off with a Re 1 fine. Speaking ahead of the verdict on the possibility of a prison sentence in 2020 he told TOI, “Aisa kya hoga? When faced with a difficult situation, look the devil in the eye. I can handle all the possibilities. They might ban me from court for a year, or suspend my Twitter account, or send me to jail for six months. Fine, my grandparents went to jail during the freedom movement, my father was jailed for a week during the Emergency, so many people go to jail. So will I, I’ll read or write a book, learn about life in prison”.
Perhaps these seeds of rebellion were sown early. A young Bhushan had a ringside view of the Raj Narain vs state of UP, habeas corpus and Kesavananda Bharti cases, watershed moments in India’s constitutional history, thanks to his father Shanti Bhushan’s legal career.
Shanti Bhushan was one of the most successful commercial lawyers of his time, law minister in Morarji Desai’s cabinet, and a founding member and treasurer of BJP, which he left quickly. But while he has been wholly supported by his father, Prashant Bhushan has walked his own path, using his privilege and legal abilities to fight cases in what he insists are public interest matters.
At 67, Bhushan is ready for more. When asked if he was considering hanging up his boots, he says, “Nahi, abhi nahi. Jab tak jaan hai…I want to keep going.”
Speaking to TOI, Bhushan had a measured take on the judgment’s impact: “One swallow does not make a summer. But it is an important and strong judgment that will have a deep impact on the transparency of political funding.”
One of the petitioners, Maj Gen (retd) Anil Verma, who leads the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), was more effusive, saying that the order had restored people’s faith in democracy and rule of law. “But while we appreciate this judgment, there are many other issues related to elections that need to be addressed.”
Bhushan’s work in public interest litigation has supported protest groups and environmental causes, taken on high-stakes corruption and matters of governance. “Prashant Bhushan’s career has been instrumental in shaping the character of PILs since the mid-80s,” legal scholar Anuj Bhuwania had told TOI in an earlier interview.
He represented people who banded together to form Narmada Bachao Andolan, Bhopal gas disaster survivors and those protesting nuclear power in Kudankulam. His Centre for Public Interest Litigation has also taken on causes that few would: Enron and Reliance being given the right to develop the Panna-Mukta oil fields, for instance, the 2G and coal allocation cases, Indo-US nuclear deal that took on UPA, and Sahara diaries that drew in Modi.
In 2009, he represented activist Subhash Aggarwal to bring SC and high court judges, including the chief justice of India, under RTI. His firm belief was that people had a right to know details of assets owned by judges.
In 2023 his intervention along with that of petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj, Jagdeep Chhokar and Harsh Mander led SC to direct states to provide ration cards under NFSA to 8 crore workers not covered under the Food Security Act. This ensured food security for migrant workers in the unorganised sector.
Bhardwaj, from the Satark Nagrik Sangathan says, “He has consistently represented progressive movements, peoples’ struggles and causes in public interest. His efforts have helped take important matters to courts and bring public attention to issues like migrant workers’ rights and vacancies in information commissions.”
But Bhushan’s pivot towards politics left him disenchanted. In the 2010-2015 period, he started with joining the Anna movement and was founder-member of AAP. He left AAP. And once a big target of his attacks, Congress is now Bhushan’s pick as an alternative to the present political dispensation. In recent times he has expressed confidence in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
But he also has a penchant for courting controversy: from tweeting about a sitting CJI’s “corruption” to publicly dissing masks and vaccines during Covid as a govt conspiracy. He has long supported the view that EVMs are manipulable and has approached courts for a comprehensive probe on the issue. After voicing his views on a plebiscite in Kashmir, he was assaulted by right-wing vigilantes.
In 2020 he was charged for defamation but got off with a Re 1 fine. Speaking ahead of the verdict on the possibility of a prison sentence in 2020 he told TOI, “Aisa kya hoga? When faced with a difficult situation, look the devil in the eye. I can handle all the possibilities. They might ban me from court for a year, or suspend my Twitter account, or send me to jail for six months. Fine, my grandparents went to jail during the freedom movement, my father was jailed for a week during the Emergency, so many people go to jail. So will I, I’ll read or write a book, learn about life in prison”.
Perhaps these seeds of rebellion were sown early. A young Bhushan had a ringside view of the Raj Narain vs state of UP, habeas corpus and Kesavananda Bharti cases, watershed moments in India’s constitutional history, thanks to his father Shanti Bhushan’s legal career.
Shanti Bhushan was one of the most successful commercial lawyers of his time, law minister in Morarji Desai’s cabinet, and a founding member and treasurer of BJP, which he left quickly. But while he has been wholly supported by his father, Prashant Bhushan has walked his own path, using his privilege and legal abilities to fight cases in what he insists are public interest matters.
At 67, Bhushan is ready for more. When asked if he was considering hanging up his boots, he says, “Nahi, abhi nahi. Jab tak jaan hai…I want to keep going.”