BJP raises 'public morality' flag amid Opposition's 'vote-chori' push

Opposition’s stiff resistance to the introduction of the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill 2025 in Lok Sabha prompted Home Minister Amit Shah to lead the charge and slam the Congress and wider opposition for preventing a Bill which also covers PM Narendra Modi.

After the Lok Sabha witnessed unseemly scenes at the time of introduction of the Bill, with MPs of the Congress, TMC and other opposition parties tearing apart its copies and flinging pieces towards treasury benches, Shah said the opposition was harking back to Indira Gandhi’s times when the Constitution was altered to protect the PM.

The Bill per se says no person arrested or in jail can function as PM, CM or minister in the Centre or state government. It gives politicians 30 days to secure bail, failing which they must resign or would be deemed to have resigned on the 31st day of detention. The draft Bill provides for reinstatement of such leaders once they secure bail.

“On one hand, PM Modi has introduced a constitutional amendment to bring himself into the ambit of the law. On the other, under the Congress leadership, the opposition has opposed it in order to remain above the law, run governments from jail, and cling to power. The nation also remembers the time when then PM Indira Gandhi, through Constitutional Amendment 39, granted special privileges to the PM, ensuring that no legal action could be taken against her,” said Shah, adding that the Constitution makers had never envisaged a position that future leaders would refuse to resign on moral grounds or that they would “shockingly run the government from jail (a reference to former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal).

Shah said Congress’s work culture and policy has been to place PM above the law as against the BJP’s policy of “making PM and ministers accountable to law”.

BJP insiders said the Bill was necessitated after Kejriwal’s resistance to resign despite long months of incarceration in the excise policy scam.

“Such was the situation that one did not know who would hoist the Tricolour in Delhi on Independence Day. Then there was a debate that if public servants are bound by law to step down from posts within 48 hours of detention in custody, why should politicians claim blanket immunity?” a senior minister told The Tribune.

This minister added that the original draft of the Constitution Amendment Bill presented today did not cover the PM but “PM Modi insisted the position be covered.”

With the Bill introduced, the BJP is planning a counter to Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav led "vote-chori" campaign in the wake of Election Commission's electoral roll revision in Bihar.

Shah even questioned Rahul Gandhi today for embracing Lalu Yadav despite having earlier torn an ordinance the UPA cabinet had brought to save the RJD chief facing criminal charges.

The home minister further, responding to Congress MP KC Venugopal's reference in Lok Sabha about Shah being himself jailed as Gujarat minister, said he had resigned before being arrested and returned only after the courts acquitted cleared him.

"It was made clear that this bill would be referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee for discussions and yet INDI Alliance under Congress shamelessly opposed it to shield corruption. Now people must decide -- is it right for ministers, CMs, PM, to run a government from jail?" asked Shah.