People of India to Decide Whether PM, CM or Minister Should Run Govt from Jail: Shah

PTI, NEW DELHI, Aug 20, 2025 :  Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the people of the country will have to decide whether it is appropriate for a minister, Chief Minister or the Prime Minister to run the government while in jail.

The Home Minister said on one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought a Constitutional amendment Bill to bring himself within the ambit of the law, and on the other hand, the entire Opposition, led by the Congress, has opposed it "to remain outside the law's ambit, run governments from jail and not relinquish their attachment to power."

"Now, the people of the country will have to decide whether it is appropriate for a minister, Chief Minister or the Prime Minister to run the government while in jail," he said in a series of posts on X in Hindi.

Shah said seeing the Modi government's commitment against political corruption in the country and the public's outrage, he introduced a Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament with the consent of the Lok Sabha Speaker, which ensures that important constitutional posts such as the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and ministers at the Centre and in the states cannot run the government while in jail.

"The purpose of this Bill is to elevate the declining level of morality in public life and bring integrity to politics," the Union Minister stated.

"When the Constitution was framed, our Constitution-makers could not have imagined that in the future, there would be political figures who would not resign on moral grounds before being arrested," he said.

The Home Minister said that in recent years, an astonishing situation has arisen in the country where Chief Ministers or ministers have continued to run the government immorally from jail without resigning.

He said the Bill also includes a provision that allows an accused politician to seek bail from the court within 30 days of arrest. If they fail to obtain bail within 30 days, on the 31st day, either the Prime Minister or Chief Ministers in the states will be removed from their posts, or they will automatically become legally ineligible to perform their duties, he said, adding if such a leader is granted bail after the legal process, they can resume their position.

The Congress on Tuesday alleged the BJP-led Union government intends to bring laws to destabilise the Opposition by getting its chief ministers arrested by "biased" central agencies and remove them from the post soon after their "arbitrary" arrest.

Congress senior spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the ruling party wishes to bring such a law to remove Opposition Chief Ministers after failing to defeat them electorally.

"What a vicious circle! No guidelines for arrest followed! Arrests of opposition leaders rampant and disproportionate," he said on X.

Singhvi also said the proposed law removes an incumbent Chief Minister immediately upon arrest. "Best way to destabilise opposition is to unleash biased central agencies to arrest opposition CMs and, despite being unable to defeat them electorally, remove them by arbitrary arrests!! And no ruling party incumbent CM ever touched!!," the senior Congress leader said.

In Kolkata, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the Constitutional Amendment Bill, alleging that it will "end" the democratic era in India forever.

Mamata, in a post on X, also claimed that the Amendment Bill is a step "more than a super-Emergency" and will "finish" independence of the country's judiciary.

"I condemn the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, proposed to be tabled by the Government of India today. I condemn it as a step towards something that is more than a super-Emergency, a step to end the democratic era of India forever. This draconian step comes as a death knell for democracy and federalism in India," she wrote on the social media platform earlier in the day.

The Left parties on Wednesday said the new Bills are a direct "assault" on democracy and the federal framework, and vowed to oppose it "tooth and nail."

Flaying the move, CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby said: "Modi Govt's 3 Bills to oust PM, CMs, Ministers after 30 days in custody expose its neo-fascist characteristics. This direct assault on our democracy will be opposed by CPI(M) tooth and nail. We urge all democratic forces to unite against this draconian move."

"These Bills, cloaked as tackling crime in high office, reveal their true intent given the RSS-controlled Modi govt's history of undermining elected state govts. With SIR, they mark a blatant move to subvert our democracy. All democratic forces must resist," Baby said on X.