AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.
Credit: PTI File Photo
The Narendra Modi government is bringing three Bills, including one to amend the Constitution, to provide for provisions to remove Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and ministers if they remain in custody for 30 days in a row for an offence that carries a jail term of at least five years.
The Opposition sees it as a declaration of war on democracy and federalism as well as a diversionary tactic from their ‘vote chori’ allegations. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) and senior MP KC Venugopal spoke to DH’s Shemin Joy on the issue.
What are your views on the Bills that seek the removal of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Ministers if they are arrested and remain in custody for 30 days?
They want to introduce a real emergency in this country. This is basically the murder of democracy. On one side, we are discussing ‘One Nation, One Election’ and at the same time, they are talking about strengthening the federal system. These three Bills are clearly a murder of a federal system. If the Centre decides, they can put any Chief Minister or Minister in jail for 30 days. You will be removed from power even if there is no chargesheet, no conviction. This means the Prime Minister is getting indirect power to remove democratically elected Chief Ministers and ministers. This is one of the draconian Bills India has ever seen.
What are your objections to The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill 2025, The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025 and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025 that provides for removal of Prime Ministers and others?
The clear motive is to target Opposition-ruled states. They want to destabilise the opposition-ruled governments. This is going to be a dictatorship period. On one side, they are doing electoral malpractices through Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across India. They are killing democracy through that. They are threatening democratically elected governments. Therefore we have to oppose it at any cost.
The government argument is that a minister facing allegations of serious criminal offences and in custody ‘may thwart or hinder the canons of Constitutional morality’. What is your take?
If a person is not convicted and allegations against him are yet to be proved in a court, will you call him a culprit? The Constitution does not allow that. If a person is convicted, there are provisions. Can you imagine that a BJP Chief Minister or a BJP minister will be arrested? This is only aimed at Opposition-ruled states and not for those ruled by the BJP. They are also sending a threatening message to allies also, including TDP’s N Chandra Babu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, and JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister. This is a war on democracy.
Why do you think that this is a war on democracy?
Look at the conviction rate of cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate. It is just 1 per cent. This is the history of enforcement cases. A whopping 99 per cent does not end in conviction. Take the case of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the ED. The Supreme Court itself said that it was wrong to put him in jail for a longer period. The Supreme Court orders are very clear on the powers of ED. It has put curbs on the ED. Now they are trying to overcome this problem through these Bills.
The Bill also includes a provision to remove the Prime Minister in case of detention for 30 days. How do you see that?
It is the biggest joke. Can you imagine a Prime Minister being jailed by a central agency? They are fooling people.
The government is sending the Bills to a Joint Committee of Parliament. What will be your strategy?
Let us see. There is a Bill to amend the Constitution. Basically, this is not going to pass in Parliament at all. This is a diversionary tactic as well as a blackmailing tactic on their allies.