The 130th Constitution Amendment Bill Is Aimed At Pushing India To One Party Rule

By Arun Srivastava

The bill to remove a prime minister, chief minister or any other minister in jail for 30 days, without conviction is awell-designed plot to accomplish the RSS-BJP mission of pushing India to one nation-one party rule. This is one of the alternate choices like the SIR to have saffron idea turn into reality.

It would be naive to construe that this instrument in future would not be misused. The timing of moving the bill in Parliament ought to be seriously taken note. Home minister Amit Shah moving the bill coinciding with SIR virtually on the verge of collapse, has wider implication. Like SIR, the instrument would strengthen and empower the rightist forces and deprive the centrist and secular of the political space they deserve.

According to sources, like all other programmes, the RSS in collusion with the BJP had drew the strategy long back, precisely after comprehending the mood of the people that they have turned anti-BJP. By this time the basic ingredients were already being implemented. He bill on conviction was an alternative idea to the SIR.

The bill seeks to remove a prime minister, chief minister or any other minister in jail for 30 days, without conviction. It will empower its agencies, ED, CBI and others to act recklessly. People are yet to forget the manner in which opposition chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren were arrested and made to languish in jail without trial. While granting bail to Soren, Supreme Court had observed; “We don’t want to observe anything more, if we observe you might be in difficulty”

It is a well-known fact that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had used the judiciary and the judicial provisions during their eleven year rule to scare and finish the opposition leaders. Almost all opposition leaders across India had to become the victim of weaponisation of the judicial process. In this backdrop how any one could subscribe to the Modi or Amit Shah’s explanation that the latest instrument was only meant to check corruption.

Some rightist advocates and academics plead that the arrested persons can apply for bail within the period of 30 days and get released before the expiry of the term. These people no doubt are trying to mislead the people and help the evil design of Modi. We have before us examples of many academics and intellectuals and social activists languishing in the jails without even serving them the chargesheet.

Father Stan Swamy died in jail without trial. On 8 October 2020, Swamy was arrested and charged by the National Investigation Agency under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for his alleged role in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and links to the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Judiciary rejected his bail request multiple times. Incarcerated, his health deteriorated and died on 5 July 2021.

Omar Khalid is languishing in jail for more than five years. He was arrested in September 2020, Mr Khalid for being accused as “key conspirator” in violent clashes in Delhi that killed 53 people, mostly Muslims. The February riots in Delhi had occurred amid massive months-long protests against a contentious citizenship law. Two police cases were lodged against Khalid. One case has been dropped, while in the other, he hasn’t been charged in court yet, and the trial hasn’t begun. What has come as a rude shock is the fact that while Supreme Court speaks of bail as right, it has ignored the fact that Khalid has been in jail for more than five years. What is worse he has been arrested under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – a notorious anti-terror law.

There are numerous such cases. These two are rare cases. Moving the bill yesterday in the Parliament, that is too in the midst of country witnessing massive agitation against SIR, exposes the wicked design of RSS and Modi government. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde holds: “The disqualification is temporary and to the extent until which the person is in jail. One can resume office after release.” But at the same time admits; “However, there is a great possibility of misuse. I foresee strong governments in the Centre misusing it against strong governments in the states.”

Going by Hegde’s observation, by the time the arrested person gets the bail, the game will be over and the political career of the poor guy is finished. This is precisely the intention of Modi and Shah behind bringing the bill. They intend to finish the political career of the opposition leaders and make India a country of one party, one nation and one election. SIR in reality was brought in vogue with this aim. But Rahul’s expose has turned it redundant. Now they are trying to experiment with the conviction bill.

Senior Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising is right in her observation: “In a country where criminal law is used for persecution, not prosecution, and as a tool for eliminating all Opposition parties, the proposed constitutional amendment is also weaponising the Constitution itself. When the ED and the CBI are under the direct control of the central government, federalism gets destroyed.”

Saffron ecosystem claim of exterminating corruption by bringing in constitutional amendment is purely a farce and meant to fool people. It once again enforces the fact that Modi and Amit treat the Indians as idiots and fools. It is an open secret that Amit Shah has been instrumental in allowing passage and inducting the corrupt politicians into BJP. All these turncoats by virtue of their closeness to Amit Shah have been ruling the roots in their states, whether it is Maharashtra, Bihar, UP, Bengal or MP. They dictate the political course of the party in their states. A common phrase moves around in the political circle: BJP is a washing machine for all the corrupt politicians”.

Really it is outrageous to think that Modi and Amit Shah would eradicate corruption. This constitution amendment bill simply aims at turning India a meadow for the saffron brigade. With all the opposition or even rebel BJP leaders in jail or disqualified, Modi and Amit will help RSS to implement its plan of one-party rule.

Their track record of punishing the so called people makes it explicit. Out of 193 cases registered by the ED against political rivals of the BJP, only two have ended in conviction, proving that 191 cases are false and foisted for political reasons. Satyendra Jain of AAP had to spend two years in jail without any charge. Bracketing the prime minister along with chief ministers and other ministers is the biggest joke cracked by RSS and BJP. The saffron ecosystem played to this gallery gimmick only to convince the people of its sincerity and seriousness.

Can anyone imagine that a prime minister would be arrested for helping Adani or any other big corporate honcho. For arresting prime minister, the sanction has to be obtained from the President that is too on the advice of the Union cabinet. Is it feasible? Can the cabinet ministers bell their leader? With the passing of the bill, India will turn into a police state in which constitution is irrelevant. AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi was correct in saying that the bills were aimed at creating a Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany. India will also cease to have a criminal justice system with judiciary failing to muster courage to confront the political rulers.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee banged the Constitutional Amendment Bill as a move “more than a super Emergency” and “a Hitlerian assault on the very soul of Indian democracy”. While proclaiming that the dangerous outreach ought to be resisted, she described the bill as “death knell for democracy and federalism in India which seeks to empower the Union to intrude upon the mandate of the people, handing sweeping powers to unelected authorities (ED, CBI – whom the Supreme Court has described as ‘caged parrots’) to interfere in the functioning of elected state governments.” According to her, “It is a step to empower the Prime Minister and the Union home minister in a sinister manner at the expense of the basic principles of our Constitution and strip the judiciary of its constitutional role.”.She was speaking the truth. (IPA Service)