Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday weighed in on the new bills proposing to remove a sitting Prime Minister, chief ministers and ministers in states and UTs, and said the move indicates that India was going back to medieval times.
"We are going back to medieval times when the king could just remove anybody at will. There's no concept of what an elected person is. He doesn't like your face, so he tells ED to put a case, and then a democratically elected person is wiped out within 30 days," Rahul Gandhi said in an address to the media this evening.
There three bills -- The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, which covers the PM and states, plus Delhi NCT; The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, and The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, propose to remove the people from these key posts if they are arrested for over 30 days on charges that have jail terms of at least five years.
The Opposition has been speaking against these proposed legislations, because they speak of action on mere allegations and not on proven guilt.
{{/usCountry}}The Opposition has been speaking against these proposed legislations, because they speak of action on mere allegations and not on proven guilt.
{{/usCountry}}Rahul Gandhi's remarks on the proposed bills came hours after the government referred them to a joint parliamentary committee. Union Minister Amit Shah moved the three bills in Parliament today, drawing fierce opposition.
Opposition MPs tore up copies of the bills and some members trooped into the well and raised slogans.
Among those opposing the bills are IMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress' Manish Tewari and K C Venugopal.
"I condemn it as a step towards something that is more than a super-Emergency, a step to end the democratic era of India forever. This draconian step comes as a death knell for democracy and federalism in India," Banerjee tweeted.
Meanwhile, Owaisi has argued that the bills violate the principle of separation of powers - the Parliament, the executive (or government), and judiciary.
Opposition's argument is that the bills stand to "change the provision of innocent until proven guilty" as it proposes to have a sitting PM, CMs and ministers lose their positions based on arrests or detention of 30 consecutive days on a charge that has a jail term of at least five years.