Earlier, during the monsoon session of the Assembly, the government introduced two motions under Rule 169 — one on the 2024 NEET UG paper leak scam and the other on the Indo-Bhutan water distribution.
A senior TMC leader said, “We are bringing in this motion on Tuesday because before starting the new criminal laws, the Central Government should give more time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee feels. They (Centre) basically forced all the states. This is an anti-federalism attitude.”
According to sources in the TMC, the motion will urge the Central Government to take more time before implementing the three laws. “All states need more time before implementing such a huge Act,” a source added.
Banerjee has already constructed a committee to review the three new criminal laws — The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023, and The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 — which were implemented in the entire country on July 1.
The committee will be headed by retired judge Ashim Kumar Roy. The committee has been constructed under the Home department of West Bengal.
Banerjee has already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last week of June asking him to postpone the implementation of the three new criminal laws. She also asked him to place the laws on the floor of the Parliament for “fresh deliberation and scrutiny”. She had also urged PM Modi to “halt and review the whole subject anew”.
“I write to you with grave concern regarding the impending – implementation of three crucial laws, namely The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNA) 2023, The Bharatiya Sakhsya Adhiniyam (BSA) 2023, and The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanita (BNSS) 2023,” the letter read.
However, on the construction of the committee, Governor C V Ananda Bose said, “West Bengal cannot be a state within a state or turned into a banana republic.”
A statement issued by the Raj Bhawan said, “Governor has called upon Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to furnish an immediate report on the objectives of the Committee for review of the amended CRPC, IPC and Evidence Act. Governor wants specific report on whether the West Bengal Govt. has responded to the proposal on time when asked for by the Govt of India.”
Reacting to the motion, a BJP leader said, “This government is acting like a separate country. They are not ready to obey any law of the Central Government. They are bringing in motion on those subjects which are not a state subject. Water distribution between two countries can never be the subject of a state. But they introduced a motion on water distribution with Bhutan which is an international subject and only two countries can solve it.”