Lok Sabha passes CAPF Bill with voice vote; Opposition members protest, walk out

Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav said several personnel from Central forces visited Opposition members and shared their “pain” regarding the legislation. “I wish you had heard their pain before drafting the Bill,” said Yadav.

“Why are you going after the morale of lakhs of CAPF personnel? What is there in giving IPS officers centralised powers,” he said. Yadav demanded that all paramilitary personnel who die on duty should be given martyr status.

“You have funds for waiving off loans of industrialists but not for soldiers who are martyred on duty,” he said.

TMC’s Mahua Moitra said she was speaking in the House on behalf of every CAPF official in the country. “I speak for those CAPF officers who are killed on duty and denied the status of a martyr. The government insists on calling them operational casualties,” said Moitra. “It is the voice of CAPF officers which the government is refusing to listen to,” she said.

The MP said that a CAPF cadre officer can never head their own unit and that it was unfair on personnel who spend years in the field. “How can this government deny this meritocracy to men who are shedding every drop of their blood for this country,” said Moitra.

“The IPS deputation in CAPF is being weaponised against the Opposition during elections. In Bengal, what have you done today? You have removed all Bengal-cadre officers … You have brought in IPS officers from every BJP-ruled state to control the CAPF,” said Moitra.

In October last year, the Supreme Court had dismissed the Centre’s plea seeking a review of its 2025 verdict that directed that IPS officers’ deputation in CAPFs up to the level of Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) should be “progressively reduced” and asked for a cadre review to be carried out in six months.

Replying to the debate in the Lower House, MoS Home Nityanand Rai accused the Opposition of playing politics over the legislation.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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