‘Draconian’ amendment brought in to dislodge elected leaders: Priyanka

Opposition leaders on Wednesday said the 130th Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which was being projected as an anti-corruption measure, was nothing more than “a veil over the eyes of people”.

They highlighted that it could be misused to arrest chief ministers on flimsy charges and remove them from office without conviction.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi said the proposal was “draconian” and “undemocratic”. She argued that the amendment would allow governments to dislodge elected leaders by engineering arrests.

“You could fabricate a case against any chief minister, keep them in custody for 30 days and they would automatically lose their post, even without conviction. This is unconstitutional and deeply unfortunate,” she stated.

The Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on Wednesday, seeks to provide for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers at both the Centre and states, who are detained for at least 30 days on charges of corruption or serious criminal offences.

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi also hit out at the proposal, insisting that it was unconstitutional and amounted to pushing India towards a “police state”.

“Who will have the authority to arrest a prime minister? This is nothing but a tool for political misuse. The BJP is forgetting that power is not permanent,” Owaisi said outside Parliament.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi alleged that Home Minister Amit Shah had brought the Bill to distract attention from Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.

“First the CSDS–BJP IT cell drama, now these Bills. The government wants to divert the public mood, but the winds of change are already sweeping Bihar,” he said.

Another Congress leader, KC Venugopal also took to X and wrote, “When ‘vote-chori’ is on everyone’s minds, Rahul Gandhi’s yatra is getting unparalleled support, opposition governments need to be targeted, allies like Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar need to be threatened…the Home Minister brings this dangerous Bill that strikes at the heart of the Constitutional principles of federalism.”

“I rose to oppose the introduction of the draconian Constitutional (130th Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha today,” he said.