Amit Shah’s Historic Tenure as India’s Longest-Serving Home Minister: Role of the Ministry in Maintaining Law and Order

The Union Home Minister of India is an extremely powerful and responsibility-filled office. It constitutes the core of national unity, law and order and internal security in the country. The Minister heads the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that is one of the major pillars of the administrative machinery of the central government. Amit Shah the new record holding Home Minister in Indian history, this raises the issue of the legal and constitutional set up in which this ministry has to work and the major changes that have been legislated in his tenure.

This paper gives an account of the legal background of the Ministry of Home Affairs, as well as, the key legal and policy choices made during the tenure of Amit Shah, and how and why they altered the landscape of the Indian legal system and internal security.

The Ministry of Home Affairs Constitutional and Legal Prescription

In the Seventh Schedule of the the Indian Constitution, the legislative powers are bifurcated between the Union and the state. Though subjects like Public Order and Police are found in the State list, and states have major responsibility on this aspect of law and order, the Union government through MHA plays a very important role. The intervention of the MHA in the provision of Article 355 of the Constitution is defined as required by the Union to protect each and every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.

This provision of the constitution grants the MHA a wide latitude to oversee the situation in terms of internal security in the entire country, offer intelligence inputs, and as and when otherwise, offer both financial and manpower assistance to state governments. The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), namely the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or the Border Security Force (BSF) among others are also controlled by the MHA and are usually sent to support state police to address concerns related to insurgency, communal riots, and other law and order emergencies. The actions of the MHA also incorporate border management, management of the Union Territories, disaster management and citizenship, and immigration, and foreign contributions arrangements.

The MHA acquires its legal standings in its workings through a number of acts of Parliament and laws. These are the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), touching on terrorism and sedition; the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) that checks foreign funding to organizations and the Disaster Management Act which has a framework on how to work around the disaster. The MHA is the one which is central to the implementation and the enforcement of these among other similar laws.

Era of Amit Shah: An Era of Big Legislative and Policy Reforms

Ever since Amit Shah assumed the position of Home Minister in May, 2019, a series of seminal decisions on law and policy have taken place that have dramatically changed the internal security and administrative structure of India. His leadership style has been attributed to the emphasis he has placed on national security and no tolerance to terrorism and insurgency.

Abolishing Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5, 2019 was one of the most important and controversial actions of his rule. The latter article had given special status to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian government by means of a Presidential Order and a later resolution passed by the Parliament, thereafter, went ahead to apply all the provisions of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequent to this, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was enacted, that bifurcated the state into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

This act of law though it enjoyed great support by the government and its supporters as an action towards more integration of the nation was also subject to a challenge in the Supreme Court. The government claimed that Article 370 was only a temporary provision and needed to abolish so that the region could be inducted into the Indian mainstream on a complete basis. The action also greatly affected the legal and political autonomy in that it changed the constitutional relation between Jammu and Kashmir and the Union government.

The total replacement of the Indian colonial-era criminal laws has been another significant legal reform in the leadership of Shah. It was an old call of reform which was shaped in his time. The Parliament enacted three new laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. These new legislations took over the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively. Modernization of the legal system, a citizen-friendly legal system and a swift procedure of delivering justice were the stated purpose of the government when they launched these reforms. These are laws that incorporate new measures such as crime, terrorism and organized crime and provide time limits on durations of investigations and prosecutions.

Another act enacted under the leadership of Shah is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, which is regarded as a crucial legislation. Certain persecuted religious minorities in particular may be placed on a fast-track pathway to Indian citizenship such as Hindu, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who have entered India especially by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. However, the law was harshly protested and legally challenged because the law did not include Muslims in the list of the protected groups. The government has justified the law saying that it was aimed at protecting minority groups that are persecuted on religious grounds in other neighbouring nations and it would not affect the citizenship of every Indian national.

Besides such significant changes in legislations, Amit Shah has also worked to combat the risks of internal security, specifically, Left-Wing Extremism (Naxalism) and insurgency in the Northeast. The MHA has been aggressive in fighting Naxals and this has greatly impacted a decline in the associated violence. The Northeast, the government has signed numerous peace arrangements with insurgent gatherings and thousands of militants have surrendered and due to these arrangements the long-lasting conflicts are ending. The premise of these activities lies within implemented legal categories and policies of the MHA, and have been implemented with an additional and more direct emphasis.

The overwhelmingly historic legacy of Amit Shah, who is currently the Home Minister of India, can be characterized by a path of considerable and sweeping legal and policy choices. Whether it is the scrapping of Article 370 or radical revision of criminal legislations and the passing of the citizenship amendment act, his leadership has created a permanent mark on the legal and political course of India. Although supporters of these decisions have applauded it on the basis that they are interested in national security and unity, critics have leveled forceful accusations and judicial attacks.

The ministry of home affairs serves as a law and order enforcer and legitimiser of internal security and is key towards the stability of India. The ministry has worked under the constitutional and legal mandate to uphold the provisions of the union in relation to the national security and governance under Amit Shah who by his leadership initiates significant changes. His lengthy service has made it possible to steadily uphold a particular vision, and his governance can be interpreted as the era of drastic change to inner affairs of India.