BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Thursday trained guns at the Congress over the protest in the Lok Sabha against the three contentious bills that bar any minister, chief minister or prime minister from holding the position after getting arrested.
The bill was introduced by Amit Shah amid a storm of Opposition protests and sloganeering that even saw the draft legislation torn up and pieces of paper flung at the Union home minister.
The Opposition alleged that the proposed bill will empower agencies to settle political rivalry, target opposition parties and undermine constitutional safeguards.
Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament, Dubey targeted the Congress, alleging that the party jailed “potential people” from their own party and their allies from the past.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament, Dubey targeted the Congress, alleging that the party jailed “potential people” from their own party and their allies from the past.
{{/usCountry}}“... You (Congress) did not even spare your own party. Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot, who were potential opponents of the Gandhi family, were sent to jail... Who sent Kanimozhi and Raja to jail?... You remove potential people from your party. You send people to jail... The BJP has not done anything like this with any alliance partner who left us, be it the Akali Dal or any other party. Did we jail Uddhav Thackeray...” Dubey said, according to ANI.
He also said that he is proud that he did not let any “fighting” happen in the Parliament.
“Lok Sabha isn’t a wrestling area. I am proud that I didn’t let any fighting happen yesterday… I saved MPs,” Dubey said, according to PTI.
What are the three bills?
The three bills – the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill – propose that a sitting minister, chief minister or even the Prime Minister can lose their position within a month if they are arrested or detained for 30 consecutive days over an offence that carries a jail term of five years or more.
Amit Shah introduced the three bills – which will require a two-thirds majority in the House to become a law – shortly after 2p and were strongly opposed by Opposition.
As reported by HT, Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee, who was standing in front of Shah, turned around and tried to use the minister’s microphone to oppose the bill. Some other TMC members hurled papers in front of the minister. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, who was seated on the second row, rushed to stand between the protestors and Shah. Minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu also came running down.
The bill finally introduced at 3.02pm after a voice vote and sent to a a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) by 3.05pm after another voice vote.