Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay put in his papers as a judge of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday morning and even before the Supreme Court accepted his resignation, he held a press conference at his Salt Lake residence to announce his decision to join the BJP.

Justice Gangopadhyay’s announcement to join the BJP on March 7 brought to an end speculations of which way he would go — Left or the right — after he made public on Sunday his desire to move out of the judiciary and take the political plunge.

High court sources said that Justice Gangopadhyay sent his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu with copies to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court T.S. Sivagnanam.

Justice Gangopadhyay came into public discourse following a series of judgments he gave related to several scams that have rocked the state for the past several years. Most of his judgments were related to the teachers’ recruitment scam that has affected thousands of job aspirants in the state.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the judge answered a barrage of questions and at times lost his cool in the face of uncomfortable posers over his decision to join the BJP.

The Telegraph brings excerpts of what the judge said during the press conference.

Why the BJP

“I will join the BJP.... It is a national party.... I am fighting against a party of goons like Trinamul. It (BJP) is a larger platform to serve the poor,” the judge said. He went on to say that the BJP was the only corruption-free party in the state.

Why not other party

“Since I believe in God, I cannot join the CPM. The Marxist does not believe in God. Congress is a dynastic party.... There are people like Jairam Ramesh who are more educated than Rahul (Gandhi). Congress leader Atulya Ghosh in his writings has made adverse comments about the Congress,” the judge said.

BJP approached you?

“No, we both approached each other.... It happened over the last seven days from when I stopped adjudicating on any case,” the judge said.

BJP is corruption-free?

“I don’t need to see whether it is a corrupt or a corruption-free party. If I find there is corruption in the party, I will definitely try to free it of corruption,” the judge said.

Why in politics

“The state’s ruling party has been repeatedly attacking me. In a way, Trinamul inspired me to join politics. I am quitting as a judge five months early at the cost of heavy financial loss. Their spokespersons on several occasions made humiliating and insulting comments about me. They are uneducated and do not know that
you cannot speak against the judiciary in such a manner.... You can criticise a judgment and go for appeals... but they chose to abuse the judge. They did it because their corruption was getting exposed,” he said.

How he saw Trinamul

“Trinamul is not a political party. It is a party full of goons. It is a jatra party. The party will not survive for long. It is breaking down from the inside under various pressures....”

Without naming Trinamul national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the judge referred to him as a “taalpatar sepahi (paper tiger)”. The judge had some kind words for chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Contest from Tamluk?

“It will be decided by the election committee of the BJP. I will make no comments,” Justice Gangopadhyay said.

On Narendra Modi

“Very good man. Very hardworking man working for the development of the country,” he said in praise of the Prime Minister.

On Narada

While responding to a question on a BJP leader (Suvendu Adhikari) caught on camera accepting money in the Narada case, he blamed the “taalpatar sepahi” for conspiring the sting operation to strike at some leaders and his way up in politics.

The judge said: “It was an absolutely fake sting and result of a conspiracy by taalpatar sepahi through one of his in-laws’ company.” Asked if he saw Narada-tainted Trinamul leaders as victims, the judge said: “Yes, all were victims of the conspiracy by that Sepahi.”

Asked if the BJP decided to field him from Diamond Harbour, he said: do you
think I will flee? I will fight against the taalpatar sepahi and show how his goons can be tackled. Of course, I will win by a margin of a few lakh votes.”