Sixteen Opposition parties on Wednesday issued a joint statement expressing apprehension about the long-term implications of the Supreme Court judgment upholding the amendments made to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, by the Narendra Modi government through the Finance Act.

In a show of unity after the presidential polls divided them, the Opposition parties questioned the legality of the amendments to the PMLA enacted through the Finance Act. “If tomorrow the Supreme Court holds that the challenged amendments through Finance Act is bad in law, the entire exercise would become futile and loss of judicial time,” the joint statement stated.

The parties that signed the statement included the Trinamul Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, which had been reluctant to be seen as part of the Congress-led Opposition. The other parties were the Congress, DMK, the Indian Union Muslim League, CPM, CPI, MDMK, RJD, RSP, Shiv Sena (Thackeray group), Kerala Congress, NCP, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Samajwadi Party.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which has of late begun taking on the Modi government, remained aloof, once again preferring to maintain its distance from the Congress.

Expressing respect for the highest court of the land, the statement said: “We are compelled to point out that the judgment should have awaited the verdict of a larger bench for examining the constitutionality of the Finance Act route to carry out amendments. These far-reaching amendments strengthened the hands of a government, indulging in political vendetta of the worst kind, by using these very amended laws relating to money-laundering and investigation agencies, to target its political opponents in a mischievous and malicious manner.”

The carefully worded letter expressed disappointment over the apex court bench echoing the government’s arguments in its judgment. “We are also very disappointed that the highest judicial authority, invited to give an independent verdict on the lack of checks and balances in the Act, has virtually reproduced arguments given by the executive in support of the draconian amendments. We hope that the dangerous verdict will be short-lived and constitutional provisions will prevail soon.’’

While there has been some discussion within the Opposition about filing a review petition, the statement makes no mention of it. An Opposition leader said this was work in progress and the most significant development of the day was that 16 parties had come on the same page on this issue.

The PMLA was originally enacted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and came into effect in the early years of the Manmohan Singh government in 2005. After the Modi government took charge in 2014, several amendments were made to the PMLA through the Finance Act, which did not require the Rajya Sabha’s approval as it was a money bill.