December 17, 2025
Sushmita Dev’s speech on Repealing and Amending Bill, 2025
Sir, this may seem like a simple Bill, but under Article 245 of the Constitution, the Parliament can legislate new laws and legislate to repeal old laws. To understand the significance of the power, if Article 245 was not there, then, this Government would not have been able to take a U-turn on the three farm laws, which was bulldozed through Parliament. If Article 245 of the Constitution was not there, then, the Amendments that were made to the Land Compensation and Acquisition Act in 2015, this Government would not have been able to take a somersault on that either. That is the significance of Article 245. What are the words they use? They use words, ‘obsolete’, ‘archaic’, ‘redundant’, but actually this provision is an opportunity to do course correction. And, I want to add another word to ‘obsolete’ and ‘redundant’, and that is ‘draconian’. This Government has given its own wish list, and I, as a Trinamool Congress soldier, have my own wish list. I want to ask the hon. Minister that as the application of the law unfolds, it is for the Government to be dynamic enough to see as to which are the provisions that are working against civil liberty, against democracy, against dissent, and I will just give you five examples. The first is sedition. Regarding Section 152 of the BNS, Amit Shahji had said that he was withdrawing provision of ‘sedition’. Instead, they brought Section 152, which is wider, broader, more vague and open to worst interpretation. Then, there is the UAPA, which is for fight against terrorism. There was the Delhi blast, there was Pahalgam attack, but today, UAPA is being used to go after activists. Eight-year old Father Stan Swamy is not supposed to be at the receiving end of the UAPA. You should relook at these provisions and disallow individuals from being declared as ‘terrorists’ without a proper charge-sheet. Then, there is the issue of marital rape. I demand that Exception 2 to Section 63 of the BNS should be repealed. Every woman has her constitutional right to her body and liberty. A husband, just because a woman is 18 years and above, should not be allowed to have intercourse with her without consent. why do you not revisit the powers of the Speaker in taking decisions on disqualification of defecting legislators? Repeal that Act; relieve that tension. You can do it. This is no ordinary power. This is the power of course correction, which this Government needs to…
