New Delhi: Defending the constitutional amendment bill for the removal of the Prime Minister, chief ministers, and other ministers if arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Friday said there would be no need for the bill had former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal resigned after going to jail.
“I have asked the people of the country in the Parliament, do the people of the country want any chief minister to run the government while staying in jail? Do the people of the country want any PM to run the government while staying in jail? What kind of discussion is this? I am not able to understand…this is a question of morality,” Amit Shah said, speaking at the Manorama News conclave held by the Malayala Manorama group. “And now you are saying, why was this provision not made in the Constitution earlier? During the drafting of the Constitution, never was it imagined that such shameless individuals would refuse to resign, even after being jailed. That is why there was no such provision in the Constitution.”
The opposition parties vehemently opposed the amendment Wednesday, when Amit Shah moved the new bill in the Lok Sabha before it went to the joint parliamentary committee for further scrutiny.
On Kejriwal’s tenure as CM, Amit Shah said that both the ruling party and the Opposition had the responsibility of upholding the moral standards in a democracy.
“An incident occurred in Delhi for the first time in 75 years. Earlier, many CMs went to jail but resigned beforehand. Now, there has been an incident…the Delhi CM continued to run the government from jail. So, should the Constitution be changed or not? Till now, the BJP has been in power, but we did not change the law because there was no need. If Kejriwal had resigned, it would not have changed even today,” Amit Shah added.
Shah emphasised the bill did not apply to any one party but also to the BJP CMs and PM.
On V-P nominees, Kerala & SIR
Asked to comment on the choices of both vice-presidential nominees from southern states, Amit Shah said, “A vice-president is of the entire country. They can come from any state.”
He, however, criticised the Opposition vice-president nominee, saying Sudarshan Reddy “promoted Naxalism” when he issued the Salwa Judum order as a Supreme Court judge. Had Reddy, the Congress-led INDIA bloc vice-president nominee, not delivered the Salwa Judum judgment—Shah said—the extremist Left movement would have ended before 2020 if he had.
“Congress has diminished whatever little chances it had in Kerala by picking him as the nominee. Reddy was the person who promoted Naxalism when he gave the Salwa Judum order as an SC judge. Had he not delivered that judgment, Naxalism would have ended by 2020 itself,” he said, accusing Reddy of using the “pious” SC forum for his own ideology.
The Supreme Court invalidated the Salwa Judam, a civil defence force that continued to acquire funds from the BJP government to fight Naxals in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh.
Moreover, Shah highlighted that Kerala bore the brunt of Naxalism. “People of Kerala will certainly see that the Congress party, under the pressure of Left parties, is fielding a candidate, who supported Naxalism and used a pious forum like the Supreme Court.”
Shah also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his “vote-theft” campaign before making a police complaint in the matter. As the Election Commission says, Rahul only spreads confusion among the public, he added.
“The SIR was conducted before, in 2003, 1961, and 1970. So, what is the problem now? If any citizen or political party feels unsatisfied, they can appeal before the assembly returning officer, the district collector, or the state chief election officer,” he said, indicating that Rahul was trying to create doubts among the public, without going for a formal complaint.
Sharing his vision for India, Amit Shah said, “I come from the BJP, I am a volunteer of the RSS. Until India becomes great, we have no right to rest.” Shah assured the southern states that whenever the delimitation exercise takes place, there will be “no injustice to the southern states—this is my promise”.
Expressing confidence in the party’s performance in the upcoming elections, Shah said, “The BJP is now growing, and the people of Kerala are moving away from the alternating rule of the LDF (Left Democratic Front) and the UDF (United Democratic Front). I firmly believe that in the upcoming local body elections, the BJP will secure 25 percent of the votes, and this will be a very significant beginning for us.”
Amit Shah also criticised the LDF and UDF for compromising national security for their vote bank. “Why was the PFI (Popular Front of India) not banned on time by the Kerala government?” he asked.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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