The Lower House of the Parliament of India – Lok Sabha, has today passed by much-hyped Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB)
In a major breakthrough, the Lower House of the Parliament of India – Lok Sabha, has today, i.e., December 9, 2019, passed by much-hyped Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB).
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed after 293 votes were polled in favour of the Bill as against 82 votes against the Bill.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to change the 6 decades old Citizenship Act and grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan facing religious persecution in these neighbouring countries. It was first proposed by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in 2014, as a part of their election campaign, ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The people of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, will not be treated as illegal immigrants, but will be given Indian citizenship, according to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
While introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, the Home Minister of India – Amit Shah argued that the Bill is not against Muslims or minorities and it does not mention them even a single time.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill read, “In Citizenship Act, in Section 2 in sub-section (i), in clause (b) the following proviso shall be inserted namely:- Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December 2014 and who has been exempted by the central government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder shall not be treated as illegal migrants for the purposes of this Act.”
The Bill also says that such refugees will be given Indian citizenship after completion of 6 years in India, as against a period of 11 years. The Bill also proposes to give immunity to such refugees facing legal cases after being found illegal migrants.
During the heated argument in Lok Sabha, the President of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) – Asaduddin Owaisi compared Amit Shah to the Former Dictator of Germany – Adolf Hitler.
Addressing the Speaker of Lok Sabha – Om Birla, Owaisi said, “I appeal to you (Speaker), save country from such a law and save Home Minister also otherwise like in Nuremberg race laws and Israel’s citizenship act, Home Minister’s name will be featured with Hitler and David Ben-Gurion.”
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Indian National Congress (INC) – Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury slammed the Bill and said it is a targeted legislation over Muslims. Responding to the congress MP, Amit Shah clarified that the Bill is not even .001% against minorities in the country.
Reacting to all the criticism, Amit Shah said, “In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Jains have been discriminated against. So, this Bill will give these persecuted people citizenship. Also, the allegation that this Bill will take away rights of Muslims is wrong.”
Amit Shah also blamed the INC that if they had not done the partition of India, after Independence in 1947, there would have been no need of such a Bill.
Blaming INC, Amit Shah said, “Why do we need this Bill today? After Independence, if Congress had not done partition on the basis on religion, then today we would have not needed this Bill. Congress did partition on the basis of religion.”
He also said, “If any Muslim from these three (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh) nations applies for citizenship according to our law, then we will consider it, but the person won’t get benefit of this amendment as the person has not faced religious persecution.”
Separately, the Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (U.P) – Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, “ना किसान की आय दुगनी हुई, ना गंगा साफ़ हुई, ना अर्थव्यवस्था में सुधार लाए, ना काला धन वापस लाए, ना नौकरियाँ लाए, ना बेटियों को बचा पाए, ना विकास कर पाए, मैंने पहले कहा था: इनकी राजनीति ध्यान हटाने और समाज बाँटने की है. #CitizenshipBill भारत का और संविधान का अपमान है।“
ना किसान की आय दुगनी हुई
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) December 9, 2019
ना गंगा साफ़ हुई
ना अर्थव्यवस्था में सुधार लाए
ना काला धन वापस लाए
ना नौकरियाँ लाए
ना बेटियों को बचा पाए
ना विकास कर पाए
मैंने पहले कहा था: इनकी राजनीति ध्यान हटाने और समाज बाँटने की है. #CitizenshipBill भारत का और संविधान का अपमान है।
It is to be noted that Citizenship (Amendment) Bill won’t apply to areas under the 6th schedule of the Constitution, which deals with autonomous tribal-dominated regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Bill will also not apply to States that have the inner-line permit regime (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram).
For the records, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is different from National Register of Citizens (NRC). NRC is a register maintained by the Government of India containing names and certain relevant information for identification of all genuine Indian citizens. The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated till recently. The North-East Indian State of Assam has become the first State in India where the updation of the NRC is being taken up.
