Divergence among Opposition in boycotting House panel on 130th Amendment Bill should have been avoided: CPI(M)

Divergence among the Opposition on joining the parliamentary committee reviewing the 130th Amendment Bill should have been avoided, CPI(M) General Secretary M.A. Baby said on Tuesday (September 16, 2025). 

He was addressing a press conference in Delhi at the conclusion of a three-day meeting of the party’s highest decision making body, the central committee.  

Calling the three Bills that allow the removal of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and other Ministers after 30 days in custody as “anti-democratic”, Mr. Baby said it once again highlighted the government’s tendency to bypass established legal procedures. “Given the neo-fascistic tendencies of the present government, such provisions are bound to be weaponised against Opposition-led State governments. This move strikes at the very system of checks and balances that is essential to any democracy,” he said. 

To a question whether the CPI(M) had been invited to join the Joint Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Bills, he said, “Our party will oppose the Bill both on the floor of the Parliament and on the street. And if we do join the committee, then we will oppose it there too.” 

He said, “Some parties announced that they will not join the panel while the Congress is yet to clarify its stance. This divergence could have been avoided had the Congress, as the lead opposition party, consulted everyone and firmed up a position.” So far, the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) had taken a public stance on boycotting the parliamentary panel.

In a post on Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the Bill a “legislative Trojan Horse”, but didn’t spell out whether his party would join others in boycotting the panel. 

Meanwhile, the CPIM) Central Committee reviewed electoral preparedness in Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry, appraising the organisational strength and political arrangements in place there. 

Mr. Baby slammed the RSS chief’s three-day address in Delhi, which, he said, sought to reignite the Mathura and Kashi disputes. “Now that the Ayodhya issue is settled and they failed to draw electoral dividends from it, they are looking for ways to polarise,” he said.