"Country will have to decide whether it's appropriate": HM Shah after Constitution Amendment Bill sent to JPC

New Delhi [India], August 20 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday called on the nation to decide whether it is appropriate for a minister, Chief Minister, or Prime Minister to run the government while they are in jail after Constitutional Amendment Bill introduced in Lok Sabha and sent to the Joint Committee of Parliament.

The Union Minister said that the move reflected the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government commitment against political corruption in the country and respond to the public outrage.

The remarks came soon after the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 were referred to the JPC after Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced them in the Lok Sabha today.

In a post on X, Shah said, Now, the people of the country will have to decide whether it is appropriate for a minister, Chief Minister, or Prime Minister to run the government while in jail. Seeing the Modi government commitment against political corruption in the country and the public outrage, today I introduced a Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament with the consent of the Lok Sabha Speaker, which ensures that important constitutional posts such as Prime Minister, Chief Minister, and ministers of the central and state governments cannot run the government while in jail.

देश में राजनीतिक भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध मोदी सरकार की प्रतिबद्धता और जनता के आक्रोश को देख कर आज मैंने संसद में लोकसभा अध्यक्ष जी की सहमति से संवैधानिक संशोधन बिल पेश किया, जिससे महत्त्वपूर्ण संवैधानिक पद, जैसे प्रधानमंत्री, मुख्यमंत्री, केंद्र और राज्य सरकार के मंत्री जेल में…

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah)

August 20, 2025

The Home Minister explained that the bill was aimed at restoring morality in public life and bringing integrity to politics.

Shah in a post on X said that the purpose of this bill is to elevate the declining level of morality in public life and bring integrity to politics. The law that will come into existence through these three bills is as follows:

(1) No person, while arrested and in jail, can govern as Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or a minister of the central or state government. (2) When the Constitution was framed, our Constitution makers could not have imagined that in the future, there would be political figures who would not resign on moral grounds before being arrested. In recent years, an astonishing situation has arisen in the country where Chief Ministers or ministers have continued to run the government immorally from jail without resigning. (3) This bill also includes a provision that allows an accused politician to seek bail from the court within 30 days of arrest. If they fail to obtain bail within 30 days, on the 31st day, either the Prime Minister at the center or the Chief Ministers in the states will remove them from their posts, or they will automatically become legally ineligible to perform their duties. If such a leader is granted bail after the legal process, they can resume their position, the Union Minister further wrote.

Earlier in the day, several Opposition MPs opposed the bills amid huge sloganeering, prompting the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to adjourn the House till 3 pm.

Opposing the Bills, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi said, I stand to oppose the introduction of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025. This violates the principle of separation of powers and undermines the right of the people to elect a government. It gives executive agencies a free hand to act as judge and executioner based on flimsy allegations and suspicions.

Congress MP KC Venugopal and Home Minister Amit Shah engaged in a verbal spat over the morality regarding the bills.

Venugopal said, This bill is meant to sabotage the basic principles of the Constitution. BJP members are saying that this bill is to bring morality into politics. Can I ask the Home Minister a question? When he was the Home Minister of Gujarat, he was arrested -- did he uphold morality at that time?

Replying to Venugopal, Shah recalled that false allegations were made against him.Before I was arrested, I resigned on moral grounds, and until I was declared innocent by the court, I did not accept any constitutional position, he said.

Amit Shah further requested the Speaker to refer the three Bills to a Joint Committee of the Houses consisting of 21 Members of the Lok Sabha to be nominated by the Speaker and 10 Members of the Rajya Sabha to be nominated by the Deputy Chairman. (ANI)

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