Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has said that the Congress if it comes to power will repeal, amend and review various laws including Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, the new criminal laws among others. The former Union Minister during the then UPA-led government also spoke about bringing a special law ‘bail is the rule, jail is exception.’
Speaking on the matter, P Chidambaram said, “…We will repeal, amend and review the following sets of laws – CAA 2019, it is top of the list. The Farmers Produce, Trade and Commerce Promotion of Facilitation Act 2020, the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita that is equivalent to IPC, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita that is the CrPC and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) act that is the evidence act. These five will be totally repealed. Then we have eight laws which will be repealed and new laws will be made. Then we have 25 laws which will be amended and brought on par with the Constitution. So we are absolutely clear that the Citizenship Amendment Act will be repealed.”
“We are also promising to bring a special law which would say ‘Bail is the rule, jail is the exception’; it was a great son of Kerala, Justice Krishna laid down the law – Bail is the rule, jail is the exception, in the words of Justice Krishna. This rule is rarely followed in the lower judiciary, Magistrates, and district judges, ultimately not everybody can go to the Supreme Court to get bail. 65 per cent of the prisoners are undertrial, they are not convicts, so why are they in jail… 90 per cent of the undertrials are OBCs, SC and ST, therefore, we would bring a special law ‘Bail is the rule, jail is the exception’- everybody after the first 15 days of interrogation by police or the CBI must be granted bail…,” P Chidambaram added.
“The people of Wayanad will re-elect Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a resounding majority. On the day the results come, the people of Wayanad will send a message of sympathy to PM Narendra Modi…,” he added.
“…The greatest challenge to India is unemployment; some sections underestimate this problem, but this is the greatest problem. In my experience, we never had such a high rate of unemployment…The labour participation rate has come down, the working population number has come down, female labour participation has come down drastically and unemployment is the highest among graduates. Among graduates, the unemployment is as much as 42 per cent, which is why we have this humiliating phenomenon of graduates, post-graduates and engineers…,” Chidambaram said.
“The criticisms are completely unfounded and we think it is very wrong for anybody to demand the arrest of a democratically elected Chief Minister. We have condemned the arrest of Delhi CM Kejriwal and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Now the Congress is asking PM Modi to arrest the Kerala CM. Their credibility in fighting PM Modi is under under cloud…I go by policies and programs and what are they raising? If they are asking PM Modi to arrest the Kerala Chief Minister then I think that is the most undemocratic act that is being done…,” CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
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