India, Sept. 1 -- The Home Minister, Amit Shah, has presented the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, wrapped in the garb of morality and public virtue. Utter hogwash! He has been going around claiming to elevate standards. He wants to ensure that those who fall under the shadow of criminality do not sit in Parliament or state legislatures.

It sounds almost noble: who could oppose a law that seeks to keep criminals out of politics? But under the layers of justification, one can effortlessly fathom that it is a venomous agency to suppress the opposition and hijack the Parliament.

The Bill proposes that elected representatives should be disqualified merely upon custody. That moves the bar of disqualification from judicial oversight to th...