Bill against jailed ministers not driven by politics: Amit Shah

Amit Shah said it did not befit “our democracy if government secretaries or chief secretaries have to go to jail to seek orders from the PM, CM or ministers”

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025, that seeks to remove the Prime Minister, chief ministers or ministers facing corruption or serious offence charges if they remain in detention for 30 consecutive days, is not driven by political vendetta and the Opposition needs to explain why they are against an attempt to ensure morality in public life.

Union home minister Amit Shah (ANI)

“I want to ask the opposition should any PM, CM or any minister be in jail and run the government from there… is it befitting democracy?” he said in an interview to news agency ANI. Targeting AAP leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Shah said a “new trend has emerged” where leaders do not step down on moral grounds pending inquiry but choose to run governments from jail. His reference was to Kejriwal’s arrest in the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy case. The former chief minister spent over five months in jail.

“It does not befit our democracy if government secretaries or chief secretaries have to go to jail to seek orders from the Prime Minister, chief minister, or ministers. In this bill, Modi ji has ensured that the PM is included along with CMs and ministers, while Indira Gandhi, through the 39th Constitutional Amendment, had kept the Prime Minister outside the ambit of law,” Shah said, according to a statement.

The home minister clarified that Dhankhar stepped down from his position owing to his health concerns and there is no merit in any speculation about his resignation. “He held a constitutional position and did good work during his tenure as per the Constitution. He has resigned because of health concerns and no one should try to stretch the issue to find something.”

The Opposition has come together to oppose the bill that has been sent to a joint parliamentary committee for scrutiny; a clutch of opposition parties including the RJD, the TMC and the AAP have said they will not be part of the JPC.

Shah lashed out at the Opposition for disrupting Parliament while the bill was being introduced. Disrupting Parliament and disregarding procedure does not behove a democracy, he said.

“We have also opposed issues but to not allow a bill to be presented…this mentality is not democratic, and the opposition is answerable to the people of this country.”

He said the premise of the Bill is clear — that when the Prime Minister, chief minister, Union ministers or state ministers who are accused of a serious crime are arrested for 30 days without bail, then they will automatically be removed from their position.

“If an elected government in Parliament brings any constitutional amendment or a bill, what can be the opposition to that… I have made it clear that this bill will be sent to a JPC for further examination. Opposition leaders could’ve given their opinion on it and when there is going to be voting on it…because it is a constitutional amendment, we need 2/3rd majority in both houses. Irrespective of whether we have that majority or not, they can share their opinion and vote,” he said.

To offset the Opposition’s claims that the bill could be used as an instrument of political vendetta, Shah said there are more NDA chief ministers in the country as on date, and the provisions of the bill apply to all equally.

“If there is an allegation against anyone, they can go to court and file a public interest litigation. Courts monitor cases of serious allegations…There is a provision for bail within 30 days. If it is a fake case, then the courts of this country will not turn a blind eye. They have the right to give bail, but if they do not give bail then you have to leave the post.”

He spoke of his own experience.

“I resigned the very next day and the case went on and the judgement came that this is political vendetta, and I was innocent… I was given bail, but I did not take oath again till I was completely exonerated and the cases quashed. What morality lessons will the Opposition teach me,” he said.

Denying that Justice Aftab Alam had to come to his house to secure his signature, Shah said a special court was set up on Sunday to hear his bail application. “He (judge) said that Amit Shah being home minister might impact the case, so my lawyer said till the time the bail application is not decided, the client will stay outside of Gujarat and I stayed outside Gujarat for two years.Nobody’s bail application had to go on for two years. The maximum is 11 days,” he said.

Shah said India follows a multi-party parliamentary democratic system and if a leader has the mandate of the people, but still goes to jail for any reason and they get bail, then they can still retain their mandate.

“The provision to send someone to jail is not made by the NDA government. This is what has been going on for years. There is also a definition of serious crimes…anything that invokes a jail term of more than five years. Even today, the people’s representation act says any elected representative who is sentenced to a punishment of more than two years will be relieved of his position…”

The minister also clarified that former Delhi minister and AAP leader, Satyendar Jain has not been given bail in four cases he was in jail for. “He did not get bail for four years. The case is still going on. The closure report was not filed in the FIR, in which he was in jail for four years. The closure report was filed in the 2022 case. In the four cases in which he went to jail and for a long time, CBI has charge sheeted him in all and he is facing trial,” he said.

Taking potshots at the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, the home minister said during the UPA rule, the then PM Manmohan Singh “cut a sorry figure” when Gandhi tore up an ordinance passed by cabinet.

“Today the Congress is opposing the bill. When UPA was in power, Manmohan Singh was its PM and Lalu Prasad Yadav was a minister. Lalu Prasad was convicted and the Manmohan Singh government came up with an ordinance. Rahul Gandhi had publicly torn it in a press conference calling it complete nonsense, he had made fun of the ordinance and the decision taken by the cabinet of the country and the PM, the decision taken by the PM of his own party, on moral grounds and Manmohan Singh had become a sorry figure in front of the whole world. Today, the same Rahul Gandhi is hugging Lalu Prasad for forming the government in Bihar. Is this not a double standard?” The Bihar assembly elections will happen later this year.

In September 2013, the then government had passed an ordinance to negate a Supreme Court order passed in July that would have disqualified convicted MPs and MLAs and removed the protection from disqualification granted previously through the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

“When the Constitution was framed, its makers never even imagined such shamelessness — that in the future there would be leaders who would run governments from jail. We must not let our moral standards fall,” Shah said.