Home advantage

As Union home minister, Amit Shah is building a legacy that could well be the yardstick against which his successors are measured

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

Amit Shah’s legacy as a consummate election manager was defined through his role as the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party won 71 of 80 seats. His organisational skills were in focus again when he was BJP president, but those who knew him from his Gujarat days were not surprised with this display of political acumen at the national level. Then, in 2019, he became Union home minister, and began building another, more historically relevant legacy. One that could well be the yardstick against which future home ministers are measured. In the past five years, Shah has overhauled the internal security landscape and ushered in reforms that are in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance model. The biggest of these reforms, in the criminal justice system, was the replacement of the old laws.

Shah said it was a learning that had come in after 75 years. “Every society makes its own laws,” he said, replying to critics who have questioned the need for such a massive overhaul. “The British brought the Indian Penal Code, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act in the 19th century with the objective of consolidating their rule. The aim was not justice, but punishment to the enslaved population. Today, the aim is to create an equal and just society.”

Home ministry officials said that when independent India turned 75, Modi had listed five vows— panch pran—from the ramparts of the Red Fort. The new criminal laws fulfil one of them: “End the mentality of slavery”, where correction, not punishment; reformation, not rejection; justice, not mere penalties; and nationality, not servitude, are at the heart of the reforms.