New Delhi, Aug 20: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced in Lok Sabha three Bills for the removal of prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious charges, drawing fierce protests from opposition MPs who tore up copies of the draft law and marched close to his seat shouting slogans.
In a charged atmosphere, several opposition MPs spoke against the introduction of the Bills, claiming they violated constitutional principles, targeted federalism, turned the jurisprudence ‘innocent until proven guilty’ on its head, were open to misuse for political reasons and threatened to turn the country into a police state.
Shah, however, batted for an enhanced standing for moral values in public life, saying, “We cannot be so shameless that we continue to occupy constitutional positions while facing serious charges”.
On his proposal, the bills were sent by the House to a Joint Committee of Parliament comprising 21 members from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha for scrutiny.
The committee, whose members will soon be named, has been asked to submit its report to the House by the last day of the first week of the next session, expected in the third week of November.
As soon as the Bills were introduced soon after 2 pm, opposition members trooped into the well, raising slogans and some even tore copies in front of Shah for the sight to be captured by cameras broadcasting the home minister’s remarks.
A few BJP members, including Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Ravneet Singh Bittu, stepped out of their seats to prevent opposition members from coming near Shah and waved them to go back to their side of the aisle.
When Congress MP K C Venugopal questioned Shah about his claim of public morality by referring to his arrest in a criminal case when he was the home minister of Gujarat in 2010, the senior BJP leader hit back.
He said he wanted to set the record straight as he had resigned on moral grounds before his arrest on “false” allegations and did not join a constitutional position till he was discharged by the courts.
“What are they (opposition) teaching us about morality? I had resigned. And I want moral values to rise. We cannot be so shameless that we continue to occupy constitutional positions while facing charges. I resigned before arrest,” Shah said.
Opposition MPs, including AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi and Congress’ Manish Tewari and Venugopal, and RSP’s N K Premachandran, spoke against the introduction, terming the proposed law against the Constitution and federalism.
The home minister also said that the Bills will be sent to the Joint Committee of Parliament, where members of both Houses, including those from the opposition, would get an opportunity to give their suggestions.
The three Bills are the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025; the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025; and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025.
The constitutional amendment bill will require the support of at least two-thirds of the members in both houses. The ruling alliance currently lacks such a majority on its own.
The Bills have proposed that if prime minister, union ministers or chief ministers, are arrested and detained in custody for 30 consecutive days for offences that attract a jail term of at least five years, they will lose their jobs on the 31st day.
Demanding that Shah withdraw the Bills, Tewari said they were “squarely destructive” of the basic structure of the Constitution and turned the fundamental principle of the rule of law that a person is innocent till proven guilty on its head.
The Bills give due procedure a go-by and make an investigating officer the “boss of prime minister of India”, he asserted.
The Congress MP said the proposed law distorts parliamentary democracy by undermining the will of the people through mere custody bereft of judicial determination. It also opens the door for political misuse by the state’s instruments whose arbitrary conduct has been “frowned” upon by the Supreme Court, he added.
Owaisi said it allows executive agencies a free run by becoming the judge, jury and executioner based on flimsy allegations and suspicion, putting chief ministers and ministers at their mercy.
He accused the government of being hell-bent on creating a police state, likening it to Nazi Germany’s secret police service, the Gestapo.
Venugopal claimed the Bills were aimed at sabotaging India’s federal structure.
The home minister, meanwhile, rejected Premachandran’s contention that the Bills were brought in haste, saying they will be sent to the joint committee, where members of both Houses would get an opportunity to give their suggestions.
Due to the noisy protests, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House briefly. The Bills were introduced and then sent to the joint committee after the House reconvened at 3 pm.
BJP leaders have linked the need for the Bills to the decision of then-Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to continue to hold the post for months after his arrest in a corruption case and the incidence of several ministers in different states, including V Senthil Balaji in Tamil Nadu, following a similar practice. (PTI)
