Amid stormy scenes in Lok Sabha where ruling and Opposition MPs nearly entered into a scuffle Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tabled three Bills which seek to remove Central and state ministers, including the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers, who face allegations of corruption or serious offences and have been detained for at least 30 days.
Following the ruckus, the Lok Sabha referred the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill to a Joint Committee of Parliament.
As soon as Shah rose to introduce the Bills, MPs of the TMC stormed the Well of the House, shouting slogans. While they were not joined by other Opposition members then, Congress MPs stood up from their seats to speak against the Bills.
Congress MP K C Venugopal brought up the issue of Shah’s arrest in 2010 in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case. Shah stood up to say that he had resigned as Gujarat Home Minister before the arrest.
As the verbal duel continued, Venugopal tore the Bills and threw them into the Well. Other Congress MPs and Opposition members, including SP’s Dharmendra Yadav, followed suit. All Opposition MPs then came to the Well of the House and started shouting slogans.
Amid all this, TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee, in an apparent bid to be heard, approached Shah’s mic while he was speaking on the Bills and started shouting slogans. Minutes earlier, Banerjee had also shouted slogans into the mics of RSP’s N K Premchandran and Venugopal as they spoke.
VIDEO | Parliament Monsoon Session: Opposition MPs tear copies of three bills introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and throw paper bits towards him in Lok Sabha. Speaker Om Birla adjourns the House amid uproar. #ParliamentMonsoonSession #MonsoonSession
(Source: Third… pic.twitter.com/aAY12oBIFV
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Matters really came to a head though when some women TMC members tore up the Bills and threw them at Shah. Some of these crumpled papers fell on Shah’s desk and chair.
Seeing this, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu rushed to Shah’s seat, and asked Banerjee and other TMC MPs to step back. Taking the cue, almost all members of the treasury benches moved towards the TMC MPs. They came so close that Shah himself had to intervene, asking people to calm down.
Seeing the commotion, the Speaker adjourned the House until 3 pm. However, MPs from either side continued their verbal jousting.
When the House reconvened at 3 pm, there were 15 marshals inside, kept on standby near the Well. Seeing this, the Opposition began protesting. The marshals then rushed into the Well, but were sent back by the Speaker, who admonished the MPs for their behaviour.
The Opposition, however, once again came to the Well and started shouting slogans.
When Shah entered the House at 3 pm, he took the third row seat instead of the front, where he had been sitting earlier.
The Speaker allowed Shah to introduce the Bills amid the din, and this was approved by a voice vote. Following this, the House was adjourned until 5 pm.
The exchange between Venugopal and Shah in the House saw the Congress MP telling the Home Minister: “The BJP is saying the Bills aim to bring morality in politics. Can I ask a question to the Home Minister? When he was Home Minister of Gujarat, he was arrested… whether he (upheld) morality…”
Shah immediately responded: “Before the arrest, I resigned on moral grounds. And I did not take any constitutional post until I was discharged from the case. What morality will they teach us?”
The Joint Committee of Parliament that will look into the Bills is to have 31 members, to be chosen by the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman. Shah requested that the committee present its report on the Bills before the first day of the next session of Parliament.
Opposition MPs have expressed apprehension that the Bills would be used against states ruled by their parties, and offer undue powers to investigative agencies to punish a person who has not been convicted in a court of law.
During the proceedings, Congress MP Manish Tewari, also a lawyer, said the Bills could destroy the basic structure of the Constitution and hurt it in spirit as the statute holds that one is innocent unless proven guilty. The Bills, he asserted, “made an investigative officer the boss of the Prime Minister of India”.
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said the Bills went against the principle of separation of powers, making the Executive agencies the judge and executioner, as a person could be removed as minister on mere accusation.
RSP MP N K Premachandran said the Bills were circulated among the members very late, and the intent seemed mala fide.
In a series of posts on X later in the evening, Shah said the Modi government was trying to fulfill the objectives of the makers of the Constitution. “(They) could not have imagined that in the future, political leaders would refuse to resign on moral grounds even after being arrested. In recent years, the country has witnessed shocking instances where chief ministers or ministers continued to run governments from jail without resigning.”
Saying the Opposition, “under the leadership of the Congress”, was objecting to the Bills “in order to remain above the law”, Shah raised the constitutional amendment brought by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to ensure that no legal action could be taken against her. “The very same Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav Ji, to safeguard whom from the law the Congress party had once brought an ordinance, a move that was opposed by Shri Rahul Gandhi too – is being embraced by Rahul Gandhi at Gandhi Maidan in Patna today… While the Congress’s work culture and policy have been to place the Prime Minister above the law… the BJP’s policy is to bring our own Prime Minister, ministers, and chief ministers under the ambit of law.”
He also spoke about the Sohrabuddin Shaikh case, saying: “I want to remind Congress that I had resigned even before being arrested. I did not hold any constitutional position, even after being released on bail, until the court fully acquitted me. The fake case against me was dismissed by the court with the clear observation that it was motivated by political vendetta.”
