Opinion P Chidambaram writes: Thankfully, dead on arrival
If the Bill to remove arrested ministers is passed, India will join the ranks of Belarus, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe which routinely jail Opposition leaders
On the surface, it is a simple Bill with a straight intent: to remove a minister (including prime minister and chief minister) who is arrested on a serious criminal charge punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more and remains in jail for 30 days. 
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Article 368 of the Constitution of India embodies the constituent power of Parliament to amend the Constitution. Sub-article (2) of Article 368 reads, inter alia, (2) An amendment of this Constitution may be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill… and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented to the President who shall give his assent to the Bill and thereupon the Constitution shall stand amended…
The NDA does not have the numbers to pass a Constitution Amendment Bill in either House. The NDA’s strength in the Lok Sabha is 293 (out of 543 members) and in the Rajya Sabha is 133 (out of 245 members). The numbers fall short of the magic number of two-thirds in each House if all the members of that House are present and voting.
The Opposition parties, put together, have 250 members in the Lok Sabha and 112 members in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill will not pass if the MPs cast 182 votes in the Lok Sabha and 82 votes in the Rajya Sabha against the Bill. But, ironically, not all Opposition parties are in opposition to the NDA! The YSRCP, BJD, BRS and BSP, and some smaller parties, have tended to support the NDA government. AITC and AAP are opposed to the NDA but whether they are with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is dependent on the issue.
A desperate gamble
It is in this situation that the NDA government has put a ball in play. It is The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025. After its introduction, the government promptly referred the Bill to a Joint Select Committee for consideration.
On the surface, it is a simple Bill with a straight intent: to remove a minister (including prime minister and chief minister) who is arrested on a serious criminal charge punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more and remains in jail for 30 days. In the 30 days, invariably, investigation will not be completed and there will be no chargesheet, no charges, no trial and no conviction. Nevertheless, on the 31st day, the minister will be given the marching orders staining him or her as a ‘criminal’.
The BJP trumpets the Bill as the apotheosis of constitutional and political morality.
Its argument is: can there be a goal more lofty than removing a ‘corrupt’ minister? Can a minister (or chief minister) rule from jail? Those who say ‘Aye’ to the Bill are true patriots and nationals; those who say ‘Nay’ are anti-nationals, urban naxals or Pakistani agents.
On the contrary…
The common experience of how the criminal law works under the NDA government is frightening. At present,
- practically, all laws have been weaponised — even GST laws;
- any police officer (that includes a constable) can arrest with or without a warrant any person against whom… a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed a cognizable offence;
- trial courts are loathe to grant bail despite Justice Krishna Iyer’s dictum that ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’;
- High Courts do not grant bail at the first hearing and, after letting the prosecution drag the matter on one pretext or another, may grant bail after 60-90 days;
- as a result of this lamentable state of affairs, scores of bail applications land up in the Supreme Court every day and the Supreme Court has become the Court of first resort for claiming liberty; and
- the inclusion of the prime minister in the Bill is laughable: no police officer will dare to arrest the prime minister.
Stand steadfast
The I.N.D.I.A. bloc and the Trinamool Congress can easily muster the numbers to defeat the Bill. However, the NDA government is confident that it can find a way to pass the Bill. It may have a trick up its sleeve to win over some Opposition parties or MPs in each House. Or it may have a Machiavellian scheme to make some Opposition MPs ‘disappear’, and enable the government to pass the Bill. Or it has a strategm that is beyond my ken.
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The battle cry has been sounded by the prime minister and the home minister and duly broadcast by the ‘yours obediently’ media. The Select Committee may keep the issue alive (like the One-Nation-One-Election JPC) until after the elections to the state assemblies in Bihar (2025) and Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (2026).
The Indian Express reported (August 22, 2025) that, since 2014, 12 ministers belonging to the Opposition parties were held without bail, and many for several months. According to another report, 25 political leaders with serious charges against them have joined the BJP since 2014, and 23 of them have been exonerated of the charges! As far as I can recall, no BJP minister has been arrested since 2014.
If the Bill is passed, India will join the ranks of Belarus, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe which routinely jail Opposition leaders. If political parties that have declared their opposition to the Bill stand steadfast, the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill will fail. When the Bill is re-introduced, it will be dead on arrival.
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