Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday claimed that the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill was aimed at preventing BJP allies like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar from “making yet another volte face”.
The remark came at a press conference in Lakhisarai district, shortly before Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi resumed the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ after a day-long break.
“The BJP wants to keep under pressure not just its opponents, but also allies like Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu. The BJP is sending a signal to Nitish ji that if you try to do yet another about turn, we will frame you in some case, keep you behind bars for 30 days and get you sacked. Thereafter, all the MLAs in your JD(U) will be brought over and made to sing ‘Narendra Modi zindabad’,” Kumar said in Lakhisarai.
“The BJP has tried the new trick realising that its past strategy of unleashing ED and CBI on Opposition parties, destabilising governments of other parties through ‘Operation Lotus’ and even manipulating electoral rolls with the help of a pliant Election Commission, have not yielded the desired result,” he added.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has a total of 19 criminal cases against him, according to an analysis made by the Association for Democratic Rights last December.
In Delhi, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram called the proposal “extraordinary” and “patently unconstitutional”.
“If an arrested chief minister does not get bail in 30 days, he will cease to be chief minister! Have you heard of anything more bizarre in the legal world? No charges, no trial, no conviction but the verdict of the people in an election will be overturned by a mere arrest (usually on fake charges),” he said.
Chidambaram argued that with trial courts reluctant to grant bail and appeals piling up in the Supreme Court, the 30-day window would destabilise governments. “Can there be anything more illegal, unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and anti-federal?” he asked.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot warned that the Bill was “a strategy to destabilise governments in every (Opposition-ruled) state, suppress public mandate, and pave the way for BJP governments”.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said, “Since 2014, we have seen a number of laws which are aimed at snatching human rights given to us by the Constitution. Such laws act as termites for the structure of the Constitution.”
He added that the Bill was aimed at targeting leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Hemant Soren.
“They are destroying the very fundamental premises of our Constitution,” Sibal said. “So if you come to power through the democratic process, they will destroy the government or else will not let them come to power through manipulations. Termites that the Home Minister had talked about. I want to tell him these are the kind of laws which act like termites for the Constitution.”
Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) MP Chandra Shekhar rejected the legislation.
“The Bills are totally anti-democracy, an attack on the Constitution and an insult to the people who elect representatives,” he said. “Has the ED raided any BJP ministers so far? All ED raids are on opposition leaders. There are leaders who were called corrupt, but were made 'deputy CM' after switching to the BJP's side. Maharashtra, Assam, are examples... B S Yeddyurappa is an example.”
BSP chief Mayawati echoed the sentiment. “The 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, brought by the central government in Parliament yesterday (Wednesday) amidst a huge uproar, clearly appears to be one that weakens democracy in the country's current political climate,” she wrote on X.
“The public fears that ruling parties will mostly misuse it for their own gain, selfishness, and animosity. Therefore, our party does not agree with this Bill at all. It would be appropriate for the government to reconsider it in the interest of the country's democracy and the Constitution,” the BSP supremo added.
