The Opposition on Wednesday described three bills that propose the automatic removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers arrested on account of serious criminal charges as “draconian” and “squarely destructive”.

During the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the three bills – the Constitution 130th Amendment Bill, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Amendment Bill and the Government of Union Territories Amendment Bill – in the Lok Sabha amid a ruckus.

As the first of these is a constitutional amendment, it will need to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

The bills allow for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers of Union Territories or states if they have been under arrest for 30 consecutive days on charges of committing an offence punishable with imprisonment for five years or more.

The removal would come into effect from the 31st day of their arrest and detention, as per the bills. Arrested ministers can be reinstated once they are released from custody.

The bills were sent to a joint parliamentary committee for scrutiny. The committee has MPs from all parties.

Commenting on the bills, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that it was “completely draconian”, ANI reported.

“To say it as an anti-corruption measure is just to pull a veil across the eyes of the people,” Vadra told reporters. “Tomorrow, you can put any kind of a case on a CM, have him arrested for 30 days without conviction, and he ceases to be a CM.”

She described the three bills as “absolutely anti-constitutional, undemocratic and very unfortunate”.

After Shah tabled the three bills in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Manish Tewari stood up and said that the Constitution states that there should be rule of law. “And the basis of that is that you are innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “This [the bills] hopes to change that.”

The Chandigarh MP described the draft legislation as “squarely destructive”, adding that it would change the judicial jurisprudence of Article 21 that grants the fundamental right to life and personal liberty.

Samajwadi Party MP Rajeev Rai told reporters that one more line should have been written in the three bills that either the “criminal” joins the Bharatiya Janata Party or this bill would be applied to them.

Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha claimed that the difference between the accused and the convicted had blurred.

“Supreme Court had commented about ED that they are becoming a part of political game,” he said. “They will slap Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases against anyone and put them behind bars…This is a tactic.”

Jha added: “Wherever you can’t win elections, you need not indulge in horse-trading. Just destabilise them and topple them. I think the home minister wants to target a few people from his own party as well.”

Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale accused Modi and Shah of seeking “new tricks” to destabilise Opposition-led state governments.

“When vote-chori is exposed, Modi-Shah are looking for new tricks,” the Rajya Sabha MP said. “A new bill is being brought today to allow the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and ED [Enforcement Directorate] to directly topple state governments for the BJP.”

Gokhale was referring to the Congress’ allegations that there were discrepancies in more than 1 lakh names in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress has cited this as evidence that the Election Commission has been colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The poll panel had dismissed the allegations as “false and misleading”.

Gokhlale on Wednesday said that a person can be said to be a criminal only when convicted by a court. “Until then, they are merely an ‘accused’. You cannot remove a CM or minister based on mere accusation. Arrest by Modi-Shah’s central agencies is not proof of guilt.”

The MP added that there had been zero arrests of Union or state ministers from the BJP in the last 11 years. “All arrests have targeted Opposition leaders,” he said.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra claimed that the introduction of the three bills was a “dark day” for democracy.

“Today is one of the darkest days in Indian democracy,” the Krishnanagar MP said. “Late last night, the BJP introduced a bill which is a constitutional amendment bill, and with this, any Opposition minister can be arrested and within 30 days.”

Calling it “extremely dangerous”, Moitra added: “We are in a state of super emergency.”

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