‘Attempt to retain power sans accountability, divert attention from SIR’
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said that the introduction of the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025 by the Union Home minister Amit Shah in Parliament was mere a ploy to divert attention from its “failure to push through” the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a flawed attempt which has now “met roadblocks at the Supreme Court”.
The Bill seeks to remove the Prime Minister, chief ministers or ministers facing allegations of corruption or serious offences if they remain in custody for 30 consecutive days. It was an attempt by the Modi government to retain power without accountability and to topple the government in the Opposition-ruled states.
Addressing a press conference, Banerjee challenged Shah to reduce the jail term of ministers from 30 days to 15 days and his party MPs would support it but the Centre will have to add the clause that if the persecuted minister is not proven guilty on the 16th day, then the investigating officers of the agency concerned and its top bosses will have to go to jail for double the time they hold the leader in jail in the name of conducting a probe, Banerjee said.
“An accountability has to be fixed as the Centre only wants to enjoy power without any accountability which is dangerous. The intention behind moving the bills was to enable the BJP to retain power, money and control over the nation, but without shouldering accountability. That’s why they will never include the accountability clause we ask for in the bills,” Banerjee added.
He also made an assertion saying that the Bills would never be passed in the Parliament as they require a two-thirds majority of members in both Houses for their passage since they aim to amend the Constitution, but the BJP lacks the necessary numbers.
“With only 240 MPs the BJP was trying to change the soul of the Indian Constitution built on the ideals of BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi. Imagine what they would have done if they had received 400 seats as they had claimed. A government which is in borrowed time itself was trying to change the constitution,” Banerjee said.
“Union Finance Ministry data say that in the last 10 years, the ED investigated 5,892 cases out of which only in 8 cases convictions were done which was just 0.13 per cent. It means 99.9 cases were politically motivated,” he further claimed.
“In Maharashtra, Anil Deshmukh was put in jail for 6 months and then received bail. Likewise, Hemant Soren, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Raut in Maharashtra, Sudip Banerjee from Bengal were put behind the bars. Who will prove that they were guilty? In the name of investigation, one cannot be put in jail. What is the role of the judiciary then?” asked Banerjee.
“The doctrine of justice says one is innocent until proven guilty but in BJP’s India, it says one is guilty until proven innocent. How can the Centre change the very doctrine of justice? The BJP-led Centre was even trying to undermine the judiciary,” he added.
“Would you take a lesson on morality from BJP who has set up a party office at a cost of Rs 500 crore or from our party supremo Mamata Banerjee who has been living in a tiled-roof home for the past 40 years,” Banerjee told the reporters.
Meanwhile, the Union Home minister introduced 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 in Lok Sabha. 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.
