Lucknow/ New Delhi, Sept. 11: The judge who had ruled that Muslims are not a minority in Uttar Pradesh has come up with another controversial statement: the Gita should be recognised as India’s national “dharma shastra”.

Days before retiring, Justice S.N. Srivastava of Allahabad High Court said in an order: “As India has recognised its national flag, national anthem, national bird, national animal and national flower, Bhagvad Gita may be considered the rashtriya dharma shastra (national religious text).”

The order on August 30 said the Gita had inspired those involved in the freedom struggle. “Hence, it is the duty of every citizen of India under Article 51-a of the Constitution of India, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, to follow dharma as propounded by the Gita,” Srivastava said.

The statement has provoked a sharp response. Union law minister H.R. Bhardwaj today said: “For Muslims, it is the Quran and the Christians have the Bible. Every religion has its own dharma shastra, so how can we say it (Gita) is for the entire nation?”

“No judge can think like this, that there should be no freedom of religion or conscience,” Bhardwaj added.

Srivastava, whose April 5 ruling that Muslims need not be granted minority status in Uttar Pradesh was stayed the next day by a division bench, retired on September 4.

Former Chief Justice of India V.N. Khare said: “What he says is not constitutional…. The state has no religion in this secular country.”

Former law minister Shanti Bhushan was furious and said a scheme was needed to ensure that only competent people were appointed high court judges. “This just shows how people who don’t know anything about the Constitution have become judges.”

The observation came during the hearing of a petition filed by Shyamal Ranjan Mukherji, a Varanasi priest who had challenged the sale of temple property by his brother.

A copy of the order has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary for action.

Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, a senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said the order was “highly regrettable”. “A secular state has no religion. This order puts a question mark on the basis of our Constitution. The Gita has always been a Hindu text and it cannot be forced on people.”

All India Muslim Forum member Maulana Saif Abbas said “equating the Gita with the national flag is an emotional pronouncement” and not expected from the judiciary.

But Supreme Court advocate Kamini Jaiswal differed. “We shouldn’t make too much of his observations. After all, the judge is human,” she said, adding judges should have freedom of speech.

As expected, the Sangh parivar sprang to his defence. “The judge has done justice to himself, not as a Hindu, but as a judge,” the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s B.P. Singhal said.