INDIA bloc will not allow Bill to disqualify jailed Ministers, says Venugopal

The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, which seeks to remove Ministers, including the Prime Minister, who spend 30 consecutive days in jail, is an attack on federalism and the INDIA bloc will not allow its passage, said Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal on Sunday (August 24, 2025).

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“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah can put any politician in jail and then disqualify them. They are taking away the powers of the people to remove a Minister. INDIA bloc will not allow this draconian Bill to be passed in Parliament,” he said.

Mr. Venugopal said that instead of considering all as equal, those in power at the Centre are trying to divide and target them. “Legislations like Waqf Bill are for targeting communities,” he said. “This is a dark age. We will survive this. The good times of democracy will be back,” he said at a public gathering.

The Lok Sabha member said lakhs are marching with Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar.

“The Election Commission has become a tool of the BJP. People are gradually realising that this government is a bogus government. In 2024, the Modi government did not get a majority, they have stolen the election results. This Prime Minister is not a legitimate PM, he became PM by stealing the election results,” he said.

Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal said the narrative on SIR was set by the Union Home Minister two months ago that Bangladeshis have entered Bihar.

“That originally is the rationale for doing SIR,” he said. “The EC has not sighted even a single Bangladeshi who has come into Bihar. So obviously it was a ruse,” he said, adding that the BJP has been adopting procedures to win elections through ‘foul’ practices since 2014. “In Maharashtra, they added votes to win and in Bihar they are deleting votes to ensure that they will win. The whole purpose of the exercise is to manipulate the voters’ list, which is the bedrock of the Indian democratic system. If the voters’ list is polluted, then there can be no fair elections,” he said.

Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the SIR is a full-fledged attack on democracy. “The right of every citizen to vote and elect a government of his or her choice has been effectively taken away from lakhs and lakhs of citizens of India,” she said.