Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday slammed the Narendra Modi government for introducing the ‘extraordinary and patently unconstitutional’ Bill to remove the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious charges in theLok Sabha.
The former Home Minister said there could perhaps be nothing ‘more bizarre in the legal world’ than having some cease to be a Chief Minister after failing to get a bail in 30 days.
“Have you heard of anything more bizarre in the legal world? No charges, no trial, no conviction but the verdict of the people in an election will be overturned by a mere arrest (usually on fake charges),” Chidambaram said in a post on X.
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.
Protesting opposition members and some MPs of the ruling alliance, including ministers, came close to jostling as tempers frayed and political heat soared.
On Shah’s proposal, however, 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.
“Nowadays, trial courts seldom grant bail. High Courts are reluctant to grant bail. Thousands of bail applications land in the Supreme Court every month. This process will take many weeks. Meanwhile, 30 days will pass and the elected government will be de-stabilised,” Chidambaram said.
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.
Have you heard of anything more bizarre in the legal world? No charges, no trial, no conviction but the verdict of the people in an election will be overturned by a mere arrest.
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.