NEW DELHI – The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defended its new legislative measures on Wednesday, saying that the laws are meant to protect moral norms in public life. Union Home Minister Amit Shah sponsored the law, which would require the dismissal of a sitting Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or minister if they are remanded in custody for more than 30 days in a row on charges of corruption or other major offenses.
A senior BJP leader, who asked to remain anonymous, said in a statement that the laws show how serious the administration is about fighting corruption. The politician said that the Prime Minister’s office was not included in the earlier draft of the bill, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged that the head of the union government be included as well. The leader asked, “Where is the question of a political witch hunt?” and said that the rules will apply to everyone equally.
The Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), among others, have called the laws “undemocratic” and a breach of federalism. They are worried that the central government could use them to overthrow state governments led by other parties.
The BJP, on the other hand, downplayed these worries and pointed to past examples of its own leaders resigning from public office when faced with severe accusations. They remembered that L.K. Advani stepped down as president of the party and from his seat in the Lok Sabha when his name came up in the Hawala Diaries case. The party also said that Amit Shah didn’t take any constitutional positions after he was arrested in a major criminal case and had to wait till he was found not guilty in 2015 to become a minister. Shah even talked about his own time in the Lok Sabha, saying that he quit for moral reasons and waited for the courts to clear him before taking any constitutional position.
Another high-ranking BJP official brought up the recent case of Arvind Kejriwal, who was the Chief Minister of Delhi and ran the government from jail for about six months in 2024. The leader said this was an example of “impropriety” and that the bills are meant to stop this kind of thing from happening. He also said that the government had thought about bringing the laws up earlier, after Kejriwal was arrested, but opted not to do so because they didn’t want people to think it was a “political move to remove Kejriwal.”
The BJP also went after the Congress party, bringing up the time in 2006 when the party tried to change the Office of Profit Bill to protect Sonia Gandhi from legal action after she was accused of being both a Member of Parliament and a Cabinet minister.
The BJP says that the 30-day timeframe is enough time for the courts to look at a case, but the Opposition says that the laws go against the constitution and the idea of separation of powers. They also pointed out that a minister or chief minister who has been fired can be hired again after their release, saying that the bills do not hurt the democratic process.
The BJP has chosen to send the proposals to a joint parliamentary committee for consideration because the Opposition is unified against them. The leaders of the party are sure that the public will understand why this law is needed. If the Opposition chooses to delay its passage, they will have to “explain to the people why they did so.”