"Politicians Think They Are Privileged Class": Harish Salve On Bill To Sack Ministers

The politician is only told that you "will not run your sachivalaya (secretariat) from a prison cell" and that is perfectly sensible, Harish Salve, a former Solicitor General of India, told NDTV amid row on bills to sack ministers who have been in jail for 30 days.

"I think it's a crying shame that we need such a bill. The fact that somebody is asserting that they should have the right to discharge a solemn duty, a ministerial duty from a prison cell, despite the highest court in the land having said that they deserve to be in a prison cell, in pretrial custody undoubtedly, but in pretrial custody. The fact that such an assertion is being made makes me wonder, have we really lost touch with our democracy," said the top lawyer.

On Wednesday, Home Minister Amit Shah introduced in Lok Sabha the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025, proposing the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious offences that attract a jail term of at least five years, and that they will lose their jobs on the 31st day. The bill has been sent to a Joint Committee of Parliament comprising 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha for scrutiny.

Mr Salve cited the 1991 Hawala Diaries case, in which people who were named resigned, even though no one was arrested.

"In 1991, when the Supreme Court started, and I may be bold to say, the ill-conceived investigation into the giant Hawala Diaries, nobody was arrested. But everybody who was charged resigned, including I think Mr (LK) Advani, who was then leader of the opposition, who said, 'I will not come back and join public life till I clear my name'," said Mr Salve.

Mr Salve, citing the current times, said "we have hit rock bottom" and something is to be done.

"All sorts of things are being said about this bill. We now have this new breed of discussion in which one-liners are everything. So, like a scattergun approach, you throw in three or four established principles of law and say all of them are violated and therefore violates the most famous phrase of the politicians today, basic structure of the constitution. It's nonsense to suggest any such thing as that," he said, underscoring that he is "not an intellectual czar who feels my view is the only view".

The Opposition has been alleging that the bill will be misused to effect political changes and target political enemies.

"The allegation is of abuse. Now, this allegation of abuse, therefore, admits the basic premise that well, in principle, you are right. If somebody is arrested, he should not be in office. But if it is a false arrest, taking him away from office is wrong. Who decides whether it's a false arrest or not? You can't be self-certifying this. So, our constitution leaves it to the judiciary," said Mr Salve, adding that he was speaking as a citizen of India as a student of law.

"And our Supreme Court has entertained bail petition by all these eminent people in public life who have been charged by the government. And the Supreme Court has said on the facts of the case, sorry, you are not entitled to come out. So, if it is a false case, either you say it's a vote or no confidence against our judiciary. So, for the common man, the judiciary is to be trusted. For the businessman, the judiciary is to be trusted. For everybody else, the judiciary is to be trusted. When it comes to people holding high office, the judiciary is not to be trusted. I mean, is that the argument?" said Mr Salve.

Making the distinction clear, Mr Salve said the law only prohibits the politician from running his office from jail, it does not disqualify him.

"You are not disqualified from anything. You are only told you will not run your sachivalaya (secretariat) from a prison cell. That destroys democracy. I am sorry. I have a very different understanding of democracy," said Mr Salve.

Arvind Kejriwal, the former Delhi Chief Minister, ran his office from Tihar jail when he was arrested in a corruption case linked to alleged irregularities in Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy.

"If you think a ministerial office is a sacred duty, a very high office, which you are discharging a sacred duty by discharging, then to accept the principle that this duty cannot be discharged effectively from a prison cell is perfectly sensible. But if you think of office as something which you have worked very hard, spent a lot of money to earn. And you are speaking with a sense of entitlement. It's like a quasi property, an office. Then you say merely on my arrest, am I to lose my property? I'm sorry, I think that's the real mindset and let us not be deceived by all the smoke around or the will of the voter and the public," said Mr Salve.

Mr Salve reposed his faith in the Indian voters, arguing that they have never voted for a system in which a person has committed a serious offense.

"Well, I do not think the Indian voter has ever voted for a system in which a person who has committed a serious offence would be allowed to be a minister. No system ever countenances this. If you do research, I doubt if you will find a single instance of a prime minister or a head of government or a senior person holding office has been running his office from a jail cell. Something has gone seriously wrong, we should never have needed this law. Current events tell you maybe you need this law because this mindset has changed," said Mr Salve.

Making a distinction, the top lawyer said an arrest takes away the liberty of a citizen of India, not of people in high public office.

"Arrest, whether it is post-conviction or pre-conviction, an arrest takes away your most precious right, the freedom. Your liberties are taken away. And the liberties of Indian citizens are taken away, not people in high public office. Everybody, as an Indian citizen, has the same right to liberty. Whether you live in a mud hut somewhere or whether you live in a palace, you have the same right to liberty," he said.

The problem, said Mr Salve, is that politicians think of themselves as a "privileged class".

"It is equally wrong to arrest a businessman and subject him to that law. So you are not a privileged class. This is the trouble, you now think of yourself as a privileged class," said Mr Salve.

"What about a man arrested for murder? What about a man arrested for rape, for kidnapping, for extortion? If such a, or owning an illegal weapon in a sensitive area, five years plus, that's a serious offense. And if you are prima facie denied bail by a court, ED has no role to play. Should you be allowed to continue in office? So what we have is we have ED who is grabbing front page news because they are arresting (10:38) prominent people," said Mr Salve.

The judiciary, said Mr Salve, is competent enough to call out a false case from a true one.

"And do you think our Supreme Court of India is so naive that it will not see through a false case from a true one? So is this a vote of no confidence against the Supreme Court?" asked Mr Salve.

Asked if the bill is a reflection of a larger vitiated atmosphere where the ruling forces and the opposition are not able to bridge their divide and there is an absolute atmosphere of distrust, Mr Salve said,"So this kind of trouble of breakdown of a dialogue is unfortunate in India. I don't like making political comments because I don't understand politics. My political comments are very biased and based on my own personal prejudices. So that's why I never get into public debate. But yes, it is sad that we have reached such a high level of divide and the vocabulary of this dialogue has become so acerbic. But that's a sign of the times, I suppose."