Ruckus over Bills on jailed PM, CMs; Opposition hurls papers at Amit Shah

Amid uproarious scenes and protests by members of the Opposition, the government on Wednesday introduced three contentious Bills in the Lok Sabha entailing the removal of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and ministers arrested on serious charges for 30 days.

The Lower House plunged into chaos as opposition members tore copies of the draft legislations soon after these were tabled by Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah tabled the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill; Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill; and the J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha.

The three Bills, termed draconian by the Opposition, were immediately referred to a joint committee of Parliament by Shah, who moved a motion in this regard. The 31-member committee will submit its report on the draft legislations on the last day of the first week of the winter session.

When the Lok Sabha, which had already been adjourned twice during the day, reconvened at 2 pm, it witnessed stormy scenes as opposition members trooped into the well of the House, raising slogans like “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod (vote thief, leave the throne)”, while protesting against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

With TMC members led by Kalyan Banerjee taking the lead in the protests along with Congress, SP, Left and other opposition lawmakers, they could be seen banging Speaker Om Birla’s table as Shah got up to introduce the Bills.

The already chaotic situation further deteriorated into a full-blown drama when Congress MP KC Venugopal’s turn came to speak on the three Bills after his party colleague Manish Tewari, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi and RSP MP NK Premachandran had lodged their opposition to the draft legislations.

They said the proposed laws were against the Constitution and the spirit of federalism.

While Owaisi said the Constitution was being amended to “destabilise governments”, Congress MP Manish Tewari said, “This is against the jurisprudence of criminal justice and distorts parliamentary democracy. The Bills open the door for political misuse and throw all constitutional safeguards to the wind.”

Opposing the Bills, Venugopal questioned the BJP’s claim that these had been brought to ensure morality in politics and sought to know where was the morality when Shah had been arrested when he was the Gujarat Home Minister.

Reacting sharply, the Home Minister said he had been framed in false cases, but had resigned on moral grounds before being arrested and did not take any constitutional post till he was acquitted in all cases.

“We cannot be so shameless that we continue to occupy constitutional positions while facing serious charges,” Shah said.

Soon after when Shah was referring the Bills to the joint committee, the opposition members tore copies of the Bills and even threw torn pieces at Shah, which led to angry confrontations between ruling and opposition members.

During the commotion, Birla adjourned the House till 3 pm.

In the melee, TMC MP Mitali Bag later claimed that she was pushed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu.

Later, when the House reconvened at 3 pm, Shah introduced the Bills again and moved the motion to send these to a joint committee of Parliament. He even countered the Opposition’s charge that the Bills were brought in haste, saying that he was referring them to the joint committee’s consideration, where all lawmakers from both sides would get a chance to give their suggestions.

While the government has said the Bills are meant to strengthen probity in public life, the Opposition has alleged they are attempts to remove Opposition-led governments in states through a circuitous route.