Gayaji/Begusarai/Kolkata, Aug 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lambasted the INDIA bloc for opposing the 130th Constitution Amendment Bill, and said the practice of people in seats of power running governments from jail and signing files from behind bars should be stopped, in his first comments on the controversial Bill.
At a rally in Gayaji, a south Bihar town, Modi also charged the opposition with “trying to protect vote banks”, despite the threat posed by “infiltration”, which has led him to call for a “demography mission”.
Modi’s comments on the controversy surrounding the Bill for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers arrested on serious criminal charges for at least 30 days came amidst stiff criticism from the Opposition, which has dubbed the Bill as a “threat to democracy”. The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha earlier this week.
“We have seen a regrettable situation in which people in seats of power have been running governments from jail, signing files from behind bars, tearing to shreds constitutional propriety,” said Modi, in an apparent reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in the alleged Delhi liquor scam in 2024 but refused to step down.
Modi on Friday also launched a scathing attack on the TMC for allegedly promoting corruption and resisting legislative moves aimed at ensuring probity in public life.
Citing provisions of the proposed legislation, Modi said, “We decided to bring in a law that provides for dismissing a corrupt chief minister, or even a prime minister, if he or she spends 30 days in jail. But the TMC and Congress began protesting. They even tried to tear up the Bill on the Parliament floor. They are angry and afraid because they know they derive their authority from a mountain of corruption and are scared of facing punishment for their sins.”
Asking whether such leaders, who throw people’s sentiments and the sanctity of the Constitution to the wind by indulging in shameless corruption, be allowed to retain their chairs, the PM said, “I cannot tolerate such insults to our Constitution and democracy. That’s why I decided to bring this Bill.”
Targeting the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal, the PM said, “In Bengal, two TMC ministers, even after going to jail on corruption charges, were not willing to give up their posts. One had wads of cash recovered from an apartment, and the other had assets worth crores of rupees seized by the investigators.” He was referring to former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, imprisoned in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam in Bengal, and Jyoti Priya Mallick, the erstwhile food minister who was arrested in the ration distribution fraud case.
“These people trampled the emotions of people who voted for them,” Modi said.
“Those who are arrested on corruption charges, how can they be part of the government and remain in chair? Modi will not allow this,” he thundered.
Defending his government’s move, Modi asserted that the new Bill was necessary to plug glaring loopholes in the system.
“Under existing laws, if a lowly-ranked government employee is arrested by the police and incarcerated without securing bail within 50 hours, they are automatically suspended from their positions. There are laws to ensure that the lives of low-ranking government officials are torn apart if they spend two days in jail,” he said.
“However, no such provisions exist for a minister or a chief minister, or the prime minister. This loophole has allowed some leaders to stoop so low that they attempt to run governments from behind bars,” Modi added.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s statement, the Trinamool Congress threw the “hypocrisy” barb back at Modi.
“Big words from someone whose party has 94 MPs facing criminal cases, including 63 with serious charges; whose party welcomed 25 opposition leaders under corruption probe, 23 of whom got a clean chit; whose Cabinet has 28 ministers facing criminal cases, including 19 accused of attempted murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women; whose caged parrot, ED, delivered convictions in only 8 out of 5,892 cases over the last decade” the TMC claimed on X. PTI
