“Defer Implementation” CM Mamata Banerjee writes to PM Modi urging fresh deliberations on new criminal laws by “newly elected parliament”- where BJP is now weaker than before

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the impending implementation of new criminal laws replacing the Indian Penal Code (IPC), calling for deferment of the implementation, until the bills are brought to the new Parliament for “deliberations and scrutiny”. She called the move to defer the implementation of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023 (BNS), Bharathiya Sakhsya Abhiniyam (BSA) 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, would be ethical and practical. The Trinamool Supremo had raised the issue previously as well, as one of the first opposition parties to have objected after the bills were passed on December 20, 2023.

“If you kindly recall, on the 20th of December last year, the outgoing Government of yours has passed these three critical bills unilaterally, and with absolutely no debate. That day, almost one hundred members of the Lok Sabha were suspended and a total 146 MPs of both houses were thrown out of the parliament. The bills were passed in a LN authoritarian manner in that dark hour of democracy. The matter deserves review now”, Mamata Banerjee wrote in her letter to PM Modi.

She said the move to bring the bills for fresh deliberations and scrutiny before the 18th Lok Sabha would be ethical and that would “demonstrate a commitment to democratic principles and foster great transparency and accountability in the legislative process”.

Trinamool Congress, like Congress, had strongly objected to the passage of the new bills replacing IPC last year but the Lok Sabha practically went without opposition after close to 100 MPs were suspended by then speaker OM Birla, in one of the most unprecedented moves.

Mamata Banerjee’s letter to the prime minister comes days before the new parliament session of the 18th Lok Sabha is slated to begin on June 24. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, BJP after two consecutive Lok Sabha victories in 2014 and 2019, for the first time is without majority. In the new house BJP’s own strength is 240 but has the support of alliance members including Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Nauru’s TDP and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) to take NDA numbers to 293. The chief minister also raised the issue of the Ministry of Law and Justice, Govt of India organising a conference in Kolkata over the issue without involving the state government. “Law and order is a state subject” she asserted while urging for the deferment on practical grounds, highlighting that the smooth transition would require a “pragmatic assessment of the challenges and preparatory work”.