Going back to medieval times when king would get anyone arrested: Rahul on bills to remove PM, CMs

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the country is being pushed back to medieval times when the king would get anyone he did not like arrested, as he criticised the new bills seeking to remove the prime minister or chief ministers for serious offences.

The government introduced three bills in Parliament on Wednesday for the removal of the prime minister, a Union minister, a chief minister or a minister of a state or Union Territory when arrested or detained on serious criminal charges for 30 days in a row.

"There's a lot of action going on the new bill that the BJP is proposing. We are going back to medieval times when the king could just remove anybody at will.

"There is no concept of what an elected person is. He doesn't like your face, so he tells the ED to file a case and then democratically-elected person is wiped out within 30 days. This is new," Gandhi said at a function to felicitate the Opposition's vice presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy.

The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha also accused the BJP of attempting a Maharashtra-style "vote theft" in Bihar, asserting that such efforts will fail in the upcoming polls.

Speaking at the function in the central hall of Samvidhan Sadan (old Parliament), Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the Constitutional Amendment Bill that undermines the core values of parliamentary democracy and federalism is being introduced in subterfuge at the fag end of the session, leaving no scope for meaningful debate or scrutiny.

He said over the last 11 years, "we have witnessed the blatant misuse of parliamentary majority to arm the autonomous agencies like ED, I-T, and CBI with draconian powers to target opposition leaders".

"Now, these new bills are set to become instruments in the hands of the ruling party to further undermine and destabilise democratically elected governments in the states.

"In Parliament, we have seen a growing trend of stifling opposition voices. We are repeatedly denied the opportunity to raise matters of vital public concern in the House," Kharge noted.

The Congress chief also alleged that Parliament has been reduced to a tool for advancing the ruling party’s ideology, with several important bills being passed amid din and without proper deliberation.

The three bills are the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025; the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025; and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025.

The bills have proposed that if the prime minister, Union ministers or chief ministers, are arrested and detained in custody for 30 consecutive days for offences that attract a jail term of at least five years, they will lose their job on the 31st day.

According to the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, there is no provision under the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 for the removal of a chief minister or a minister arrested and detained in custody on account of serious criminal charges.

Hence, there is a need to amend section 45 of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, to provide a legal framework for the removal of a chief minister or a minister in such cases, it said. PTI SKC SKC KVK KVK