Opposition vice-presidential candidate and former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy pushed back Amit Shah’s charge that he had “supported Naxalism” through a 2011 judgment striking down Salwa Judum movement.

“I do not wish to join an issue directly with the home minister of India, whose constitutional duty and obligation is to protect the life, liberty, and property of every citizen, irrespective of ideological differences,” Reddy said in a statement to PTI.

“Secondly, I have authored the judgment. ‘Judgment is not mine.’ Judgment is of the Supreme Court. Another judge was sitting with me and repeated attempts were made to get it overruled, but it didn’t happen… I wish the home minister could have read the whole judgment. If he had read the judgment, perhaps he would not have made that comment," he added.

Reddy’s remarks came a day after Shah, speaking at the Manorama News Conclave organised by the Malayala Manorama Group, claimed that Naxalism would have been wiped out by 2020 “if that judgment had not been passed.”

Amit Shah was responding to a question at the conclave when he took aim at the Congress-led alliance’s choice of Reddy as its vice-presidential nominee.

“Sudershan Reddy is the person who helped Naxalism. He delivered the Salwa Judum judgment. If that judgment had not been passed, Naxal terrorism would have ended by 2020,” he said.

He linked the issue to Kerala politics, noting that the state “has faced the brunt of Naxalism” and accusing the Congress of acting “under the pressure of Left parties” by fielding a candidate “who supported Naxalism and used a pious forum like the Supreme Court.”

During his five-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Reddy heard several constitutional cases. In July 2011, in Nandini Sundar v. State of Chhattisgarh, a bench of Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar struck down the Salwa Judum practice of recruiting tribal youth as Special Police Officers for an honorarium to fight Maoists. The court ruled that the policy violated constitutional rights.

For his part, Reddy framed the upcoming vice-presidential election as a battle of ideas. “This is not just about a contest between me and Radhakrishnan ji. It is a contest of two different ideologies. One, which the other side is presenting, is a quintessential RSS man. I do not subscribe to that ideology,” he said.

Reddy has made it clear he will not personally spar with the home minister but stands by the Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling.