Rahul Gandhi has ripped into three new bills that allow senior members of the government - including the Prime Minister and chief ministers of states and union territories - to be sacked if they have been jailed (but not necessarily convicted) on 'serious criminal charges' for 30 consecutive days.
The bills - presented by Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha Wednesday, while opposition MPs threw pieces of paper at him - have been sent to a joint parliamentary committee for scrutiny.
But the opposition has been severely critical of the "draconian" and "unconstitutional" proposals, and has accused the BJP of conspiring to illegally remove non-allied governments by filing 'false' cases, jailing rival chief ministers for a month, and forcing them to resign.
"We are going back to medieval times... when a king could remove anybody at will. There is no concept of what an elected person is. If the king (referring to Prime Minister Modi) doesn't like your face, he tells the Enforcement Directorate to file a case. Then a democratically elected person is wiped out within 30 days," Mr Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said.
"Let us not forget why we are electing a new Vice President," the Congress MP continued, referring to the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar last month. Mr Dhankhar quit citing ill heath, but sources later told NDTV the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party engineered his removal.
Mr Gandhi also hinted darkly at pressure on Mr Dhankhar.
"The day he resigned. (KC) Venugopalji called me and said, 'Vice President has gone'. Now there is a big story about why he resigned. Some of you might know... some might not. And there is a story about why he is in hiding. The person who used to burst forth in the Rajya Sabha has gone silent... completely silent. So, this is the time we're living in," he declared.
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Mr Gandhi - in a black t-shirt in place of the traditional white, a switch seen as a mark of protest - also spoke of a "war" between "those attacking the Constitution and those defending it".
Multiple opposition leaders have criticised the 'criminal politicians' bill, including Mr Gandhi's party colleagues, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Both highlighted fears the BJP can use the bill to target non-aligned or allied governments.
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"Tomorrow, you can file any case against a chief minister, have him/her arrested for 30 days without conviction... and he ceases to be a chief minister?" Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked.
"... (they can) unleash biased central agencies to arrest opposition chief ministers and then, despite being unable to defeat them electorally, remove them by arbitrary arrests," Mr Singhvi said, "And no ruling party chief minister will ever be touched!"
Opposition leaders pointed to the case of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested on corruption charges linked to an alleged liquor excise policy scam. The AAP boss - who led his party to successive wins over the BJP in Delhi - was arrested and jailed for over five months, without a trial.
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