Trinamool Congress says won’t appoint members to JPC on Bills to oust arrested PM, CMs

The Trinamool Congress on Saturday (August 23, 2025) said that it will not appoint any members from the party to the Joint Parliamentary Committee to review the three Bills to oust arrested Ministers, including Prime Minister and Chief Ministers. The party called the setting up of the Committee a “farce”.

The three bills are the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025; and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

“We oppose the 130th constitution amendment Bill at the stage of introduction, and in our view the JPC is a farce. Therefore, we are not nominating anyone from AITC,” the party said in a statement.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the three Bills in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (August 20, 2025). The Lower House witnessed chaos as Opposition members vociferously protested the Bills, saying they were against the federal structure of the country.

During the tabling of the Bills, some Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs escalated their protest by tearing copies of the proposed legislation in front of Mr. Shah’s seat, resulting in a brief jostle between Opposition and ruling party MPs.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had reacted sharply against the Bills and said, “something that is more than a super-Emergency, a step to end the democratic era of India forever“.

“This draconian step comes as a death knell for democracy and federalism in India,” she said in a post on X. “The Bill seeks to empower the Union to intrude upon the mandate of the people, handing sweeping powers to unelected authorities ( ED, CBI- whom Supreme Court has described as ‘ caged parrots’) to interfere in the functioning of elected State governments. It is a step to empower the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister in a sinister manner at the expense of the basic principles of our Constitution,“ she said.