Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 23: Former Supreme Court judge and Opposition Vice Presidential nominee Justice (Retd) B. Sudershan Reddy on Saturday firmly denied allegations linking him to Maoist sympathies, calling such claims baseless and part of a deliberate narrative-building effort.

“I have not done anything in the past that would make anyone label me as a supporter of Naxalism,” he said in response to criticism, particularly over the Supreme Court’s 2011 judgment in the Salwa Judum case — which he authored.

The landmark ruling had declared the Chhattisgarh government’s policy of arming tribal youths as Special Police Officers (SPOs) to fight Maoists unconstitutional, calling for their disbandment. At the time, the court stressed that the state must address insurgency through legal and systemic governance, not vigilante forces.

Union home minister Amit Shah reignited the debate on Friday, accusing Justice Reddy of weakening India’s anti-Naxal operations. Speaking at a public event in Kochi, Shah said the Salwa Judum verdict emboldened extremist elements and delayed the end of Naxal violence. “If that judgment had not been given, Naxal terrorism would have ended by 2020,” he claimed.

Justice Reddy, now 79, clarified that the judgment was delivered by a bench and not by him personally, adding that subsequent efforts to overturn it — including review petitions — were unsuccessful. He also suggested that critics may not have read the ruling in full or were misinformed.

"Calling me a Naxalite supporter has no basis," he said, asserting that such labels are politically motivated and not rooted in legal fact.