New India bills on removal of ministers undermine laws of justice

Over a decade into the Modi government, we have learnt to expect the unexpected. The government thrives on surprise, on shock and awe against its opponents.

Last week, at the eleventh hour, almost at the fag end of the parliament session, Home Minister Amit Shah brought in three bills which could basically remove the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and ministers at the Centre and states if they have been arrested for a serious offence where the jail term is five years. If they don’t get bail in 30 days, they will be removed from office. The Bills have been sent to a parliament committee for examination. The BJP says this is about morality in politics but in reality, these Bills set a dangerous precedent that undermines democracy, federalism and the laws of justice.

To begin with, a mere arrest, not a conviction, will be the grounds for removal. There is no need for a chargesheet, no framing of charges, nothing. What happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’? That means an entire government can be destabilised by an arrest with absolutely nothing proven. In India, the wheels of justice are painfully slow, where people languish in jail without bail or a conviction for years.

The case of AAP minister Satyendra Jain is a glaring example. Earlier this month, a Delhi court dismissed a corruption case against him after the CBI admitted it had found no evidence even after four years of investigation. In any case, the Supreme Court has already laid down that a conviction that carries a sentence of two years or more will result in the disqualification of a legislator from office and from contesting elections.

In the last 10 years, most of those targeted by agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), have been opposition politicians. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court pulled up the Enforcement Directorate for its poor conviction rate - “after 5,000 cases, less than 10 convictions. Why? We are equally concerned about the image of the ED”, the bench said. With the Bills, the ED, which has extraordinary powers of arrest, can detain an opposition Chief Minister, keep them in custody for a month, and watch them being removed from office. The BJP’s “morality” in politics argument is laughable if it wasn’t such a serious issue. Look at the data. As reported by the Indian Express earlier this year, since 2014, when Narendra Modi first got elected as Prime Minister, as many as 25 prominent politicians facing action from Central agencies for alleged corruption have crossed over to the BJP. In all, 23 of them got a reprieve from their cases once they crossed over.

In March this year, the government informed parliament that 193 cases have been registered against politicians by the ED in the last 10 years. Only two have actually been convicted. More than 70 percent of these cases have been registered in the last five years.

This has nothing to do with political morality. It has everything to do with the BJP wanting to undermine India’s federal structure. That explains why BJP-appointed Governors have been crossing the line and withholding assent to legislation in states like Tamil Nadu. That case has gone up to the Supreme Court where the central government counsel is currently arguing that Governors must have overriding powers even over elected governments.

These Bills were clearly drafted in bad faith. They have no place in a democracy and must die in the parliamentary committee that is looking at them.