Gayaji (Bihar)/Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday attacked the political parties for opposing the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025, with Modi asserting that the practice of people in seats of power running governments from jail should be stopped.
The attack by Modi and Shah over the controversial Bill came amidst fierce criticism by the opposition parties, including the Congress, which has termed the Bill as “WMD — weapon of mass distraction”.
In his first comments on the controversy surrounding the Bill for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers arrested on serious criminal charges for at least 30 days, Modi, at a rally in Bihar’s Gayaji, said the Congress, RJD and Left were “angry” as leaders of these parties have been guilty of corruption.
“We have seen a regrettable situation in which people in seats of power have been running governments from jail, signing files from behind bars, tearing to shreds constitutional propriety,” said Modi, in an apparent reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in the alleged Delhi liquor scam in 2024 but refused to step down.
“So, we decided to bring in a law that provides for the dismissal of a corrupt chief minister, or even the Prime Minister, if he or she spends 30 days in jail. A lowly clerk, if he is jailed for a short period, is placed under suspension,” Modi said.
“But when we tried to bring in a stringent law, the RJD, the Congress, and the Left were livid. They are angry because they are scared of facing punishment for their own sins,” Modi alleged.
Speaking at another rally in Dum Dum in the northern fringes of Kolkata in the evening, the PM defended the Bill introduced in Parliament earlier this week, and blamed the Opposition for promoting corruption and resisting legislative moves aimed at ensuring probity in public life.
“In Bengal, two TMC ministers, even after going to jail on corruption charges, were not willing to give up their posts. One had wads of cash recovered from an apartment, and the other had assets worth crores of rupees seized by the investigators,” Modi said.
“Those who are arrested on corruption charges, how can they be part of the government and remain in chair? Modi will not allow this,” he said in defence of the Bill seeking to amend the Constitution.
Shah on Wednesday, introduced in Lok Sabha the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025, proposing the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious offences that attract a jail term of at least five years, and that they will lose their jobs on the 31st day.
It has been sent by the House to a Joint Committee of Parliament comprising 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha for scrutiny.
Speaking at a media event in Kerala, Shah also hit out at the political parties for opposing the document,
“There is nothing further to address on this matter. I have asked the people of the country in Parliament: do they want the Prime Minister to run the government from jail? What kind of debate is this? It is a question of morality.
“Now they are asking why it was not included in the Constitution earlier. When the Constitution was drafted, it was not anticipated that people who had been to jail would continue to hold elected office,” he said after inaugurating the Manorama News conclave organised by Malayala Manorama group in Kochi.
The Home Minister referred to the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal on graft charges while he was Chief Minister of Delhi, and to his refusal to resign after being jailed.
“Now, there was an incident where a Chief Minister ran the government from jail. So, should the Constitution be amended or not? There was also a BJP government in power, but we never faced such a situation,” Shah said, suggesting that if Kejriwal had resigned following his arrest, this new bill would not have been introduced.
At an event in Tamil Nadu, Shah also attacked Minister M K Stalin, saying he does not have any right to dub the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill as “black bill” as he alleged the Tamil Nadu chief minister carried out “black deed.”
Addressing a party event in Tirunelveli, Shah alleged the DMK led the “most corrupt” government in the country, and it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who ran the government as per the Tamil classical didactic book, Thirukkural’s guidance for an able, ideal ruler.
Slamming the DMK over “corruption”, he alleged several scams, including those related to state liquor corporation TASMAC, sand mining, infrastructure, transport department, nutrition kit, free dhoti, cash for jobs, ration smuggling, and a scam over MGNREGA where the money of poor Tamils was swindled.
Citing the case against DMK leader and former Minister K Ponmudy and the recent one of V Senthil Balaji, who continued as a minister when he was in jail in connection with an ED case, Shah asked if it was appropriate to be part of the Cabinet and govern despite being jailed.
The Congress has also claimed that the government action was aimed at diverting attention from “vote chori”, a strong opposition candidate for the vice presidential polls, and the problems in the India-US ties.
