Key Points

Thackeray camp in a hard-hitting editorial in the party's mouthpiece 'Saamana' alleged that the government has moved these bills to "cover up its corruption and misdeeds" as it is shaken by the opposition unity, uprising of the people and the sins they themselves have committed.

"This is treason. This is a sham. These bills have been tabled to end democracy and individual freedom in India and lead the country towards dictatorship, and therefore, they must be burned," Saamana editorial said.

The Thackeray camp questioned the government's intentions, claiming that they are not clean. "The Modi-Shah combine has tied this new noose to imprison their political opponents. We have to look at these bills as a new form of arbitrariness, dictatorship and inhumanity. The programme of arresting the person holding the post of Chief Minister started during the Modi-Shah era. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in the Raj Bhavan itself, and today, CP Radhakrishnan, who is the NDA nominee for the Vice President of India post, was the Governor of Jharkhand at that time. Hemant Soren reached the Raj Bhavan of Jharkhand to resign from the post of Chief Minister, but the Central Investigation Agency reached the Raj Bhavan and arrested the Chief Minister. Why is there such a hurry?" asked the Thackeray camp.

Further, the editorial said, "Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the alleged liquor scam. Even after his arrest, he did not resign from the post of Chief Minister for a long time and was running Delhi from Tihar Jail. DMK Minister Senthil Balaji in Tamil Nadu was arrested by the ED. Chief Minister Stalin did not accept Balaji's resignation. Later, Balaji himself resigned. As soon as he was released from jail, Chief Minister Stalin reinstated him in the cabinet. Now, according to these new bills, ministers and Chief Ministers will have to resign after their arrest.”

Thackeray camp alleged that HM Amit Shah will use the threat of these new bills to force the entire government to join the BJP by giving the mantra of 'Aya Ram'.

The party, in the editorial, gave a call to raise a voice against this. “We should expose the new terrorism in India at the international level. Amit Shah is going to arrest the opposition Chief Ministers and Ministers in the name of morality. Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis had earlier said that those involved in corruption would be sent to jail, but ironically, they are now sitting with them. So what morality is Shah talking about? Will the scams and crimes committed by Assam Chief Minister Hemant Biswa Sarma, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde and their ministers be weighed in a golden scale?" asked the editorial.

"Eknath Shinde looted five thousand acres of land of poor project victims in Raigad district, and in that transaction, he and his minister Sanjay Shirsat made thousands of crores of rupees. The central government will suppress all these crimes. This is an insult to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's constitution,” claimed the editorial.

The Thackeray camp said that the most corrupt are those who are talking about culture and morality. “We are experiencing in the current Modi regime that those who have cruelty and dictatorship in their veins are preaching about democracy and individual freedom. To curb tainted leaders, PM Modi and Amit Shah are getting a new Constitution Amendment Bill passed. Those who are facing serious crimes will not be able to remain in office after being arrested. They will have to leave their posts. After being in jail for thirty days in a serious case, they will have to resign under any circumstances. If they do not resign, such ministers will be dismissed by the President's order. The ruling party is claiming that these bills are being brought to maintain morality in politics. But for whom have these bills been tabled?” asked the editorial.

- IANS