As the government drafted measures pertaining to the dismissal of the prime minister, chief minister, and ministers if they are imprisoned for serious offenses, union minister Kiren Rijiju disclosed on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had denied an exception for himself.
According to Rijiju, Prime Minister Modi informed the Cabinet that he disagreed with the suggestion that the prime minister be excluded from the laws’ scope. Rijiju told ANI, “PM Modi told the cabinet that the recommendation is to keep the prime minister out of this bill, but he did not agree. PM Modi refused to give an exception to the prime minister. The PM is also a citizen, and he should not have special protection.”
“Most of the CMs are from our party. If they do something wrong, they have to leave their position. Ethics should also mean something. The Opposition would have welcomed this bill had they kept ethics at the centre…” he added.
A sitting minister, chief minister, or even the prime minister could lose their job within a month if they are arrested or detained for 30 days in a row for an offense that carries a jail sentence of five years or more, according to three bills: the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, and the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill.
Amit Shah presented the measures in the midst of a flurry of opposition demonstrations and sloganeering, which even resulted in the draft legislation being destroyed and bits of paper being thrown at the Union home minister. Following a voice vote, the bills were subsequently introduced and forwarded to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).
The measures’ planned revisions have been referred to as “draconian” and “unconstitutional” by opposition leaders, who also claim that central authorities will use them to target chief ministers in states that are run by the opposition.