Most reformative law against graft: Kiren Rijiju on bill to remove arrested leaders

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has lauded the legislation to remove corrupt leaders who have been arrested for over 30 days in serious cases as the “most consequential and most reformative law” against corruption.

Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced three contentious bills in the Lok Sabha under which the Prime Minister, chief ministers and other leaders could be removed if they have been arrested for 30 consecutive days under serious charges. The bills have been referred to a joint committee of Parliament for further scrutiny.

“This was the most consequential and reformative law against corruption that was introduced and also sent to the joint parliamentary committee during the Monsoon session,” Rijiju, who is also the Union Law Minister, said during an exclusive interview with India Today TV.

“This is a very important law where a constitutional amendment is required, where the sitting chief minister, union minister and even the prime minister will have to come under the scrutiny of the law. Thereby, if you do corruption, you will have to go to jail, and will have to leave your post and position,” the Union minister added, calling it a "very important matter for every Indian".

On August 20, as the three bills were introduced - the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill - opposition MPs created a huge uproar and tore copies of the legislation amid rowdy scenes.

The opposition dubbed the legislation "draconian", claiming that it would be used by the BJP-led government in the Centre to destabilise opposition-ruled states through arbitrary arrests of ministers and chief ministers.

As Amit Shah was proposing that the bills be sent to a JPC for examination, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee and other opposition leaders tore copies of the bills and threw them at the Home Minister.

Visuals showed pieces of paper falling near the minister. However, Banerjee denied tearing copies of the bills.

There is currently no provision to remove a sitting minister if they are accused of a serious crime.

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