New Delhi [India], August 25 : Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Monday hit back at Union Minister Amit Shah for attacking Congress over the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, and called it a "weapon" in the hands of the police officers.
Speaking to ANI, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel said that Amit Shah "should not talk about morality."
"Amit Shah should not talk about morality...The Secretary General of the Lok Sabha was not even asked before presenting the Bill, and a copy was not even circulated. The Bill was brought in haste, and this tells us how much pressure Amit Shah is under," he said.
Baghel added that the police officers will put public representatives in jail under such provisions where they do not get bail for at least six months.
"You are giving a weapon in the hands of an inspector or a constable to bring down governments and control through this means. On one side, a constable will arrest a public representative under such sections that they will not be able to get out of jail for six months and will not get bail in the High Courts or the Supreme Court," he said.
The Congress leader accused the Centre of strengthening the bureaucrats, while the elected representatives will have to live in fear after the Bill is passed.
"On the other side, you have given so much power to the Election Commission that an FIR cannot be filed against them. Bureaucrats are fearless in the country, while the public representative will also be afraid of a police officer," Bhupesh Baghel said.
This comes after Amit Shah defended the Constitutional Amendment, which states that the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and Ministers, if jailed for more than 30 days for offences that attract a jail term of over five years, can be removed from office.
In an interview with ANI, Shah accused Congress of double standards, saying the party now supports RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar despite previously opposing similar cases. He referred to the 2013 ordinance by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, which sought to provide relief to MPs and MLAs who had been disqualified or convicted of a crime.
He said, "They are opposing this. However, during the UPA government, when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister and Lalu Prasad Yadav was a minister who had been convicted, they introduced an ordinance stating that even a two-year sentence would not result in the cancellation of a member's membership until the appeal process was complete."
"Rahul Gandhi publicly called that ordinance nonsense and even tore it up in a press conference. The decision made by their own Prime Minister was mocked, and the PM became a sorry figure in front of the world. But now, the same Rahul Gandhi, to form a government in Bihar, is hugging Lalu Yadav, who has been convicted. Isn't this a double standard?" Shah said.
Meanwhile, a Joint Committee comprising members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, cutting across party lines, to be appointed by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairperson, will jointly examine the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill.