Elevating morality in public life and restoring integrity in politics: Amit Shah explains purpose behind three bills

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah, hours after presenting the three bills in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said that the purpose behind introducing these legislations was to “elevate the declining level of morality in public life and bring integrity to politics.”

Taking to his social media handle, the Union Minister elucidated the central aspects of the bill and stated how this will set new benchmarks of probity and integrity in public life, as it applies to even the highest constitutional posts of the country, including the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers.

The bill, which was sent to the Joint Committee of Parliament for scrutiny, has provisions for ousting the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers if they have been arrested for 30 consecutive days.

Amit Shah, in his X post, informed that he introduced a constitutional amendment bill in the Parliament, which ensures that those on constitutional posts like the Prime Minister, Chief Minister, and ministers of the central and state governments cannot run the government while in jail.

The law that will come into existence through these three bills will imply:

#No person, while arrested and in jail, can govern as Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or a minister of the central or state government.

#This bill 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 at the Centre or the Chief Ministers in the states will remove them from their posts, or they will automatically become legally ineligible to perform their duties.

Amit Shah further said that when the Constitution was framed, the makers of the Constitution didn’t imagine a situation where there could be political figures who would not resign on moral grounds before being arrested, a remark intended at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who refused to give up the chair despite being months in jail over corruption charges.

The Home Minister also invoked the Indira Gandhi regime to slam the Congress’ culture of sticking to power and trampling the democracy for its own benefits.

“The country remembers the time when the then Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi, through Constitutional Amendment No. 39, granted privilege to the Prime Minister that no legal action could be taken against them,” he said.

He contrasted such an approach with that of the BJP government's policy, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced a constitutional amendment to bring himself within the ambit of the law.

“On one side, this is the work culture and policy of Congress, which places the Prime Minister above the law through constitutional amendments. On the other side, the policy of the Bharatiya Janata Party is that we are bringing our government’s Prime Minister, ministers, and chief ministers within the ambit of the law,” he pointed out.

--IANS

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