Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has called the new Criminal Neta bill tabled in the parliament a threat to democracy in India. While speaking at an event in Chennai, he claimed that the BJP is taking away the power of the state governments and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin would never allow the bill to become a law.

“A few days ago, a Bill was tabled in a hurried manner in the Assembly by Home Minister Amit Shah. If a Minister or Chief Minister is charged with a crime and kept in prison for 30 days, those who are elected by the people can be removed from power. This is a threat declared not just to the States but the entire Indian Democracy,” he said.

He also said that both the states and the Union governments derive their respective authorities from the constitution and one is not subordinate to the other in its own field. The job of one is to coordinate with the other.

“Since DMK came to power in 2021, we don’t call the Government in Delhi the Central Government but only the Union Government. Many opposed it, but our Chief Minister clearly said that in the Indian Constitution, it is only mentioned as Union and State. The Chief Minister explained in the Assembly that it wouldn’t be appropriate to call the Union Government as the Central Government,” he said.

Recalling Dr B R Ambedkar, he said that the constitution clearly mentions the Union government and the state government.

“Dr BR Ambedkar, who wrote the Constitution, has clearly said this. Both the Union and the States are created by the Constitution. Both derive their respective authority from the Constitution. The one is not subordinate to the other in its own field. The job of both governments is to coordinate with each other,” said Udhayanidhi Stalin.

“We understood this and as DMK came to power, we took State Autonomy in hand. We emphasised that the Indian Constitution should be amended to provide more power to the states. We still enforce and will keep enforcing it until it happens,” he added.

In the recently concluded monsoon session of the parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah tabled the “Criminal Netas bill” which empowers the government to remove the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and other ministers from their positions if they are arrested and are in custody for 30 consecutive days, even without a conviction.

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