Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Monday said there was “absolutely nothing wrong” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting his home to participate in the worship of the Hindu deity Ganesha in September.

Modi’s visit to the home of Chandrachud for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival led to several lawyers and Opposition leaders expressing concern about the independence of the judiciary from the political executive.

Indira Jaising, former additional solicitor general, had alleged at the time that Chandrachud had “compromised the separation of powers” between the executive and the judiciary.

On the other hand, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut said that a custodian of the Constitution meeting politicians in this manner could “create doubts” in people’s minds.

Speaking at an event organised by The Indian Express on Monday, Chandrachud said: “We meet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, on January 26 or August 15, when an incoming chief justice is coming or when an outgoing chief justice is going, when a foreign head of state is visiting. You are in conversations with the prime minister, the ministers, the president, the vice president. These conversations do not involve the cases we decide.”

There has to be a sense of maturity in the political system to understand this and to trust our judgements, said Chandrachud, who will retire on November 10.

“Ultimately, the work we do is evaluated by our written words,” he said. “Everything we decide, unlike many other systems, is not kept in wraps. It’s open to scrutiny.”

Chandrachud was also asked a question about his recent statement that he had prayed to god to find a solution to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.

He responded to it by saying that the backdrop against which the statement was made must be understood. He said he was asked a question about how he managed to keep calm while deciding cases of intense conflict.

“I said, everyone has its own mantra,” said the chief justice. “My mantra, I did not mean religious mantra, but the mantra of life, is to spend time reflecting on myself and the caseload for the day.”

He added: “When I meant, I sit before a deity, I make no bones or I am not defensive about the fact that I am a person of faith. Equally, I respect every other faith and that’s the kind of work which we do.”

In November 2019, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which Chandrachud was part of, held that the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 was illegal, but handed over the land to a trust for a Ram temple to be constructed. At the same time, it directed that a five-acre plot in Ayodhya be allotted to Muslims for a mosque to be constructed.

The Babri mosque was demolished by Hindutva extremists on December 6, 1992, because they believed that it stood on the spot on which the deity Ram had been born. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.

On October 20, speaking at a gathering in his native village in Maharashtra, Chandrachud said: “Very often we have cases [to adjudicate] but we don’t arrive at a solution. Something similar happened during the Ayodhya [Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute] which was in front of me for three months. I sat before the deity and told him that he needs to find a solution.”