Union Home Minister Amit Shah questioned the moral attitude of Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and asked if his moral attitude had changed after losing three consecutive elections. Amit Shah referred to the 2013 incident when Rahul Gandhi ‘torn’ the ordinance brought by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give relief to Lalu Prasad Yadav. Shah compared this to the bill of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers on the bill of being removed from the post after being in jail for more than 30 days.
In an interview given to ANI, Amit Shah said, ‘The Congress party is openly opposing the 130th Amendment Bill. When the UPA government was in power, Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and Lalu Prasad Yadav was a minister. Lalu Prasad was convicted. The Manmohan government brought an ordinance. Rahul Gandhi had publicly tore this ordinance in a press conference, calling him a completely nonsense and made fun of the decision taken by the Prime Minister of the party on moral grounds on the decision taken by the country’s cabinet and the Prime Minister and Manmohan Singh became a shameful person in front of the whole world. Today, the same Rahul Gandhi is embracing Lalu Prasad to form a government in Bihar. Isn’t this a double criterion? ‘
What did Amit Shah say on the bill?
Amit Shah said, ‘Today, the number of NDA Chief Ministers in this country is more. The Prime Minister is also from the NDA. Therefore, this bill does not raise questions only for the opposition. It also raises questions for our Chief Ministers. There is a provision of 30 days bail in it. If this is a fake case, then the High Court and the Supreme Court of the country are not sitting eye closed. The High Court and the Supreme Court have the right to grant bail in any case. If you do not get bail then you have to leave the post. I want to ask the people and the opposition of the country whether any Chief Minister, any Prime Minister or a minister can run his government from jail? Is this appropriate for the country’s democracy?
The bill was withdrawn after Rahul Gandhi’s protest
Let me tell you that after Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted in the fodder scam, the Manmohan Singh government had brought a bill, in which MPs and MLAs were given three months’ deferment to stay on. This bill effectively rejected the order of the Supreme Court regarding the disqualification of convicted MPs and MLAs. When Rahul Gandhi publicly protested the bill and tore the copy of the bill, it was later withdrawn.