Tensions erupted and tempers flared in the Lok Sabha following Home Minister Amit Shah’s tabling of three highly contentious bills that call for the automatic removal of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, or ministers held in custody for 30 straight days.
According to reports, the move met with protest from the opposition, with MPs shouting slogans, ripping up the bills, and alleging that the government was attempting to undermine the very pillars of India’s democratic framework.
They accused the government of attempting to dismantle the very foundations of Indian democracy.
The three bills—the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill—were introduced amid chaos. Opposition members called the laws “draconian.”
Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee was seen hurling papers toward the Home Minister. Visuals showed pieces of torn documents falling near Shah. Although Banerjee’s actions were caught on camera, he later denied tearing copies of the bills.
The government’s move comes in the wake of past controversies where leaders—including former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji—continued to hold office despite being jailed. The proposed laws aim to automatically remove any sitting Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or minister who is arrested and kept in custody for 30 continuous days on charges that carry a minimum punishment of five years. On the 31st day, such individuals would be removed from office, although the bills also state that they may be reappointed once released.
As Shah moved to send the bills to a joint parliamentary committee for examination, opposition protests escalated. Congress MP KC Venugopal clashed with Shah in a pointed exchange over the BJP leader’s own past legal troubles.
“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 reportedly asked, referencing Shah’s arrest in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
Responding forcefully, Shah said he had stepped down 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 was quoted as saying.
Shah was cleared of all charges by a special CBI court in 2014, citing lack of evidence.
Outside the House, the reaction was equally fierce. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi launched a scathing attack on the government’s intent, describing the bills as a step toward authoritarianism.
“It gives executive agencies a free run to become judge and executioner based on flimsy allegations and suspicions… This government is hell-bent on creating a police state. This will be a death knell unleashed on elected governments,” Owaisi said. He went further, comparing the proposed measures to the Gestapo—the infamous secret police of Nazi Germany.
Congress MP Manish Tewari echoed similar concerns, calling the legislation “squarely destructive” of the Constitution’s basic structure.
“This bill opens the door for political misuse by instrumentalities of the state whose arbitrary conduct has been repeatedly frowned upon by the Supreme Court,” Tewari added.
Recently, the SC has raised red flags over the functioning of central agencies, especially the Enforcement Directorate (ED), accusing it of “crossing all limits”. It cautioned against its deployment in “political battles.”
As the mood in the Parliament became rife with tension, the motive and legality of the proposed bills was questioned. Critics warned that the new laws could serve as political tools. They believed the new regulations could be misused for motivated arrests under the garb of legality.
However, the government has maintained that the bills are part of an anti-corruption agenda and that proper safeguards are in place to prevent misuse.
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