The Narendra Modi government is planning to introduce three bills in Parliament on Wednesday that would allow for the removal of the Prime Minister, Union Ministers, and Chief Ministers or Ministers of states and union territories upon arrest or detention on serious criminal charges. The opposition has strongly criticized the proposed legislation, calling it arbitrary and accusing the government of attempting to destabilize the opposition. TMC MP Mahua Moitra stated that the BJP, with only 240 seats, is changing the constitution.
The main opposition party, the Congress, has alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intends to introduce a law to destabilize the opposition by arbitrarily arresting Chief Ministers from opposition parties in various states through biased central agencies, and then immediately removing them from their posts.
Senior Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi strongly condemned the proposal, stating that the government, unable to defeat opposition Chief Ministers in elections, now seeks to remove them through such a law. He criticized the lack of guidelines for arrests, calling the arrests of opposition leaders rampant and disproportionate, adding that the proposed law provides for the immediate removal of a sitting Chief Minister upon arrest.
Mahua Moitra criticized the bill, saying the BJP, with only 240 MPs, is changing the constitution and that the new bill bypasses both the federal structure and the judiciary. She stated that the central government can now use the ED and CBI to arrest elected opposition Chief Ministers on fabricated charges and dismiss them without them being proven guilty by a court.
Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, also criticized the bill, claiming that the aim of these bills is to divert attention from Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar.