If a Prime Minister, Chief Minister or a minister is arrested on any offence, ideally s/he should resign immediately on moral grounds. Why should people holding such important positions come under suspicion even, leave aside getting arrested. Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.
When in 1996, veteran BJP leader LK Advani’s name figured in infamous ‘Jain Hawala Dairies’ mentioning bribes Jain brothers had allegedly paid to various politicians, he resigned immediately from the Parliament and did not contest the general election held that year saying he would not contest till he does not come clean. He contested the 1998 general elections, only after he was acquitted by the Supreme Court of India of corruption charges. There have been a few others who have taken a high moral ground on such matters. But that is just history now.
The entire Opposition has risen against the proposed law by the BJP-led NDA government that will make a Prime Minister, Chief Minister or any minister at the Centre, state or Union Territory lose his job, if s/he remains under arrest for a month or more.
The Opposition furry was so extreme against the proposed law that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was not even allowed to speak when he rose to present the bill. Some unruly Opposition members even tore the copies of the bill and tried to throw the torn papers at the Home Minister.
Why so much anger and fury? The entire Opposition has come out with an argument that this law is aimed at targeting their Chief Ministers and ministers. Arguments have even been given that the proposed law was against the basic federal structure of the Constitution of the country.
Any law can be abused and misused. The Opposition parties have been citing the misuse of investigating agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation etc against their leaders while no action has been taken against any of the leaders belonging to the ruling party or the coalition.
The Opposition’s assumption and apprehension is that in case the Central government wants to remove a particular Chief Minister or a minister it can make a case against that leader, make him/ her spend one month in jail and ensure that s/he loses his job.
But it is not as simple and easy as that. After all, registering a case against any Chief Minister or minister is not that easy. There is a due legal process. Besides, every case is subjected to thorough judicial scrutiny. It is not that the courts are compliant and will be doing the government’s bidding.
Take the example of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged Delhi liquor scam. He did not resign even after six months of remaining inside the jail. He only resigned after he was granted bail, saying he wanted to leave the final verdict to the people of Delhi. His party, the Aam Aadmi Party, lost the elections and he also lost from his own Assembly segment of New Delhi.
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How fair was it on his part to continue to remain the Chief Minister even while being in jail, whether held rightly or wrongly. He has been alleging that he was jailed out of political vendetta. There are other examples as well where some ministers even while remaining in jail continued to hold ministerial positions.
There is nothing wrong in the proposed law. This will definitely be one of the right steps towards curbing the criminalisation of politics, particularly corruption at high places.
The Opposition parties with their outright opposition to the proposed law have not done any good to themselves. The public perception is that the political leaders practically enjoy complete immunity and no matter what they do, the law never catches up with them. Even going to jail is no deterrent against their holding Constitutional positions.
Assuming that a Chief Minister is arrested and remains in jail, how can s/he run the government from inside the prison? Obviously, framers of the Constitution of India must not have visualised such a situation where the lawmakers and those in power will need to be probed and arrested. If the government has brought an amendment to the Constitution, it should be welcome, instead of being resisted or opposed.
It will take some time before it is tabled in the Parliament again for passage, which will be done in the winter session. Given the strong resistance posed by the Opposition parties, the passage of the bill is going to be stormy. But with a comfortable majority in both the Houses, the government should not have much difficulty in getting this law passed.
Instead of outright rejection, the Opposition should propose safeguards against any possible misuse of the law. Indian democracy has evolved as quite strong and it will not be possible for any regime, no matter how strong it may be, to implicate any Chief Minister or minister without any strong reason just to remove him/ her. The Central government already has Article 356 of the Constitution for that purpose, which has been extensively used in the past, particularly by the Congress regimes at the Centre.
As there is no more misuse, rather even use of Article 356, particularly due to a lot of public awareness, it is unlikely that the proposed law can be misused without any adverse fallout. Besides, the judiciary is already there to keep a check on the use/ misuse of any law.
The argument that an accused is presumed to be innocent till proven guilty does not necessarily need to be invoked here. Someone as powerful and influential as a Chief Minister or a minister does not fall in the category of the ordinary people. They should move aside on moral grounds if such a situation arises. Since that does not happen and people continue to stick to the “chair” with a lame defence of “political vendetta,” this law was necessitated and is a must for the country. It must be passed and implemented.
In fact, this law must be extended to the lawmakers as well. They should not be allowed to participate in any legislative process till they do not come clean of the allegations and charges made against them.
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