'Draconian step to end democracy': Mamata on 'criminal' ministers bill

Kolkata: The 130th Constitution (Amendment) Bill is a draconian step by the Union government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party to end the era of democracy in India, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday.

“The intent of the bill is to consolidate a system of one-man-one-party-one-government. The bill tramples upon the basic structure of the Constitution,” Mamata posted on X, even as her party members joined the rest of the Opposition to protest the introduction of the draft legislation of the bill, along with two others, in the Lok Sabha.

The TMC supremo called for "resisting the attempt" of the BJP-led government at the Centre to empower itself to intrude upon the mandate of the people, handing sweeping powers to unelected authorities, like the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, to interfere in the functioning of elected state governments.

It is a step to empower the prime minister and the home minister in a sinister manner at the expense of the basic principles of the Constitution, she said.

Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the 130th Constitution (Amendment) Bill, along with the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025, in the Lok Sabha amid ruckus on Wednesday.

The bills have provisions for the removal of the prime minister, a minister of the central government, a chief minister or a minister of a state or a Union Territory, when arrested or detained on serious criminal charges for 30 days in a row.

“This is not reform. This is a regression towards a system where the law no longer rests with independent courts but is placed in the hands of vested interests,” the TMC supremo said in Kolkata.

“It is a chilling attempt to establish a rule where judicial scrutiny is silenced, constitutional safeguards are dismantled, and the people's rights are trampled. This is how authoritarian regimes, even fascist ones in history, consolidated power. It reeks of the very mindset that the world once condemned in the darkest chapters of the 20th century.”

“If corruption was the concern, why did opposition leaders under probe get instant reprieve after joining the BJP’s washing machine? This Bill is not about cleansing politics, it’s about cleansing the opposition,” the TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said.