Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced three contentious bills in the Lok Sabha that seek to remove a Prime Minister, Chief Minister or minister from office if they are arrested for 30 consecutive days.
The move triggered uproar from the opposition, who tore copies of the legislation and hurled them at the minister.
The proposed laws state that any Prime Minister, Chief Minister or minister facing charges carrying a minimum punishment of five years will automatically lose office on the 31st day of custody.
The government tabled the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill for consideration.
As Shah proposed sending the bills to a joint committee for scrutiny, opposition MPs stormed the Well of the House. Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee and others tore the copies and threw them towards the Home Minister, with visuals showing the papers falling near him.
The session also witnessed a heated exchange between Shah and Congress MP KC Venugopal. Raising Shah’s past arrest in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, Venugopal accused him of double standards. “This bill violates the basic principle of the Constitution. When Amit Shah was the Home Minister of Gujarat, he was arrested. Did he uphold morality then?” Venugopal asked.
Responding angrily, Shah said he had resigned from his Gujarat ministerial post before his arrest. “There were false allegations against me. I had resigned on moral grounds till I was under trial. I did not hold a single constitutional post till I was cleared of all the charges by the court,” he said.
According to the draft law, “A minister, who for any period of 30 consecutive days during holding the office as such, is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence punishable with imprisonment of five years or more, shall be removed from his office by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister by the thirty-first day after being taken in such custody.”
The government’s move comes in the wake of controversies around leaders such as former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who continued to remain in office despite being in jail.
The opposition has dubbed the legislation “draconian,” alleging that the BJP intends to destabilise opposition-ruled states through misuse of central agencies and arbitrary arrests.
Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi posted on X, “What a vicious circle! No guidelines for arrest followed! Arrests of opposition leaders rampant and disproportionate. The best way to destabilise the opposition is to unleash biased central agencies to arrest opposition CMs and, despite being unable to defeat them electorally, remove them by arbitrary arrests!! And no ruling party incumbent CM ever touched!!”
Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee accused the government of trying to crush democracy. “Having failed in its attempt to misuse the EC to implement SIR, the government has now activated another ‘E’ — ED — to bring in laws that target opposition leaders, crush democracy and manipulate the people’s mandate by toppling state govts,” he posted.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has introduced a controversial law in the Lok Sabha that would allow for the removal of the Prime Minister and state Chief Ministers from office if they are jailed for 30 days, regardless of whether they have been convicted of a crime.
Also Read: Centre to propose bills to remove PM, CMs if arrested on charges
The Opposition has strongly protested this Constitution amendment Bill, describing it as "draconian" and accusing the ruling BJP of attempting to transform the nation into a "police state." Senior Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra condemned the bill, stating, "I see it as a completely draconian thing as it goes against everything. To say it as an anti-corruption measure is just to pull a veil across the eyes of the people."
She expressed concern that it would enable the government to file any kind of case against a Chief Minister, have them arrested for 30 days without a conviction, and thereby remove them from office, calling the move "absolutely anti-constitutional, undemocratic and very unfortunate."
Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also voiced his opposition, arguing that the BJP government is trying to turn the country into a "police state." He questioned who would have the authority to arrest the Prime Minister and asserted, "This bill is unconstitutional... The BJP is forgetting that power is not eternal."
Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee also took to X to condemn the bill, stating that the government is "solely interested in amassing power, wealth and control without any accountability." He added, "We strongly condemn this authoritarian attitude and oppose the introduction of this draconian constitutional amendment bill."
In support of the bill, BJP MP Manan Kumar Mishra accused the Opposition of trying to distract the public. He stated, "The government is bringing an important bill in which those who have been in jail for more than 30 days will not be allowed to hold ministerial positions. There can be no work more important than this, but the opposition wants to obstruct Parliament."
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