Letting the left hand do what the right hand can’t

The three bills that home minister Amit shah tabled in the Lok Sabha today, are against the spirit of separation of powers, federalism and natural justice. The bills seeking to bar legislators arrested for serious offenses from holding office of ministers The bill therefore includes a constitution amendment bill While we already have a law barring legislators who are convicted, irrespective of pending appeals. The law has hurt our grass root democracy, where leaders from marginalized sections have been disproportionately targeted. While the existing law was born out of a sustained pressure from the election commission arguing that “no law breaker should be a law maker “, the current bills argue that legislators should set moral standards. This is problematic in a diverse society where multiple norms exist concomitantly. Furthermore in an unequal society with a disadvantaged majority, class struggle would be seen at various levels. This makes leaders from lower classes, particularly vulnerable to conflict with law. The most dangerous aspect of these bills is the enormous political power, that would be handed to the executive. We know that most of the offenses under pmla attract more than 5 years of punishment and difficult to get bail in lower courts. This would mean that the ED can rig any political formation, by charging and arresting a political leader. The ED’s conduct, especially political influence of the central government, is too obvious. With all the investigating and enforcement agencies with the central government, the state governments especially those of regional parties would be vulnerable to arm twisting by the union. While the president is an elected position, the governors are nominated by the government. Allowing governors to sack elected chief ministers, would dent the democratic system. The judiciary while convicting someone has the liberty to assess the background on the principles of distributive and liberatory justice. The executive has no such competence. Therefore the vulnerability of the leaders from marginalized communities has no recourse. Lastly it is against the basic tenets of natural justice, that “ no one should be a judge in his own case “. Here the enforcement agencies would be the charging, investigating, arresting, and imprisoning authority. The government wants to do politics through the police.