New Delhi [India], August 21 : BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Thursday defended new bills allowing the removal of elected representatives who are arrested on serious criminal charges and held in custody without bail for more than 30 days.
Countering opposition criticism, Dubey said the opposition's politics "runs on tuition and tweet" and questioned whether ministers should continue in office when jailed, citing examples of leaders in the past.
"Rahul Gandhi's Congress and the entire Opposition's politics run on tuition and tweets. If a PM, MP or minister is jailed, should they not resign? Amit Shah was the Home Minister of Gujarat. Did he not go to jail? Did he not resign before going to jail? He did not take any constitutional position until he was acquitted by the court," Dubey told reporters.
He pointed to examples of leaders resigning on moral grounds, including Uma Bharti stepping down as Karnataka CM after being summoned by a court, and L.K. Advani resigning as MP during the Hawala case until his acquittal.
"A case was registered against Uma Bharti in Karnataka. She resigned from her CM chair, and then she went to the Karnataka Court. She was not even jailed. But the party accepted her resignation because she was summoned. L.K. Advani faced a Hawala case. He resigned as the MP and did not contest any election until he was acquitted," he said.
"But today, people like Arvind Kejriwal keep being the CM from jail. What is wrong if such a bill is being brought? Even the PM will be included. Following the imposition of the Emergency, an amendment was introduced that prohibited any action against the PM for any crime. The PM should be punished if he commits a crime under the right to equality," he added.
He also accused the Congress of misusing political and legal means against rivals, claiming that leaders like Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot were jailed to sideline them.
"You (Congress) did not even spare your own party. Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot, who were potential opponents of the Gandhi family, were sent to jail... Who sent Kanimozhi and Raja to jail? You remove potential people from your party. You send people to jail. The BJP has not done anything like this with any alliance partner who left us, be it the Akali Dal or any other party. Did we jail Uddhav Thackeray," he said.
Dubey further said he helped prevent a scuffle in Parliament on Wednesday when opposition MPs tore and threw copies of tabled bills towards Home Minister Amit Shah. "Yesterday, I prevented the fighting. I am proud of it. The Home Minister said in the Parliament that we are not supposed to cause any misconduct in the Parliament. It is not a place to beat anyone," he said.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha on Thursday agreed to send the Constitution (One Hundred & Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025, Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 to a Joint Committee. The committee will include 21 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members, to be nominated by the Speaker and Deputy Chairman, respectively and will submit a report on the last day of the first week of the winter session.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved in the Upper House that the three bills be sent to a joint committee, amid relentless sloganeering and shouting by the Opposition. The motion was adopted through a voice vote.
Shah had tabled the three bills in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeks to remove a Central or State Minister who is facing allegations of corruption or serious offences and has been detained for at least 30 days.