New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA government has forwarded three contentious bills to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further scrutiny following heated protests in the Lok Sabha. The proposed legislation, introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeks to establish a legal framework to remove the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and state or Union Territory ministers if they are detained for over 30 days on charges carrying a minimum five-year jail term. The bills include The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill.
The Opposition fiercely criticized the bills, labeling them unconstitutional and a threat to parliamentary democracy, arguing that they allow action based on allegations alone, without requiring a conviction. During the session, Opposition MPs, including Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee, disrupted proceedings by tearing copies of the bills and throwing them toward Shah, prompting a brief confrontation with BJP members. Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House multiple times amid the chaos, eventually reconvening to pass a resolution by voice vote to refer the bills to a JPC comprising 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members. The committee is tasked with submitting its report by the first week of the next parliamentary session, likely in November.
Shah defended the bills as a critical anti-corruption measure, citing his own resignation as Gujarat’s Home Minister in 2010 before his arrest in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case as an example of moral accountability. He emphasized that the legislation applies uniformly, including to the Prime Minister, and is not aimed at targeting individuals. However, Opposition leaders, including Congress MP KC Venugopal, argued that the bills could be misused to destabilize opposition-led state governments, referencing cases like the arrests of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. The bills’ referral to the JPC was part of the government’s planned process, despite the Opposition’s claims of undue haste.
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