Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- PM Modi on Friday targeted the Congress and other parties opposing three bills on removal of sacked ministers
- “If a government employee is imprisoned for 50 hours, then he loses his job automatically," he said in Bihar
- “Why should governments be allowed to run from jail?" he added
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday targeted the Congress and other parties opposing three bills that mandate the removal of any prime minister, chief ministers and minister who has been under arrest for 30 consecutive days, asking why people holding key posts should be allowed to function from prison.
"If a government employee is imprisoned for 50 hours, then he loses his job automatically, be it a driver, a clerk or a peon. But should a chief minister, a minister, or even a Prime Minister stay in the government even while being in jail," he said in his first comments on the three contentious legislations that triggered a political storm in Parliament earlier this week.
"Why should governments be allowed to run from jail? Should tainted ministers continue with their posts? The people expect their leaders to uphold moral integrity," he added.
The Prime Minister was addressing a massive rally at Gayaji in poll-bound Bihar when he made the remarks.
The three Bills - 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 - were introduced in Parliament this week and subsequently referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament. 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 jobs on the 31st day.
On Thursday, the Opposition tore copies of the draft legislation and strongly protested in the Well of the Lok Sabha. It said the bills violated constitutional principles, targeted federalism, turned the jurisprudence 'innocent until proven guilty' on its head, were open to misuse for political reasons and threatened to turn the country into a police state.
The Prime Minister, however, hit out at the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties for opposing the legislation.
"Some time ago, we saw how files were being signed from jail and how government orders were given from jail. If leaders have such an attitude, how can we fight corruption," he said, in an apparent reference to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal's arrest in the liquor scam case during his term as chief minister in Delhi earlier.
"The Congress and RJD are opposing the bills. What are they scared of? Everybody in Bihar knows that RJD leaders always indulged in corrupt practices," he said, adding: "The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has brought a law against corruption, and the Prime Minister also comes under its purview."
Mr Kejriwal was released on interim bail by the Supreme Court in September last year, after spending nearly five months in the liquor scam case. He had continued his role in government affairs from the prison and quit after he was granted the interim relief.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleged the three contentious bills would take the administration back to "back to medieval times".
"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 Lok Sabha, said.
"Let us not forget why we are electing a new Vice President," he added, referring to the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar last month.
