Shortly after the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha after 6 hours of intense debate on Monday December (9), Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the bill and said that he was delighted that the Bill was passed in the Lower House of Parliament after a ‘rich and extensive debate’. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, was passed in the Lok Sabha with 311 MPs voting in its favour and 80 against.
“Delighted that the Lok Sabha has passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 after a rich and extensive debate. I thank the various MPs and parties that supported the Bill. This Bill is in line with India’s centuries old ethos of assimilation and belief in humanitarian values,” tweeted PM Modi.
Delighted that the Lok Sabha has passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 after a rich and extensive debate. I thank the various MPs and parties that supported the Bill. This Bill is in line with India’s centuries old ethos of assimilation and belief in humanitarian values.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 9, 2019
The prime minister also praised Union Home Minister Amit Shah for explaining all aspects of the Bill to Lok Sabha MPs during the debate. “I would like to specially applaud Home Minister @AmitShah Ji for lucidly explaining all aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. He also gave elaborate answers to the various points raised by respective MPs during the discussion in the Lok Sabha,” PM Modi noted.
I would like to specially applaud Home Minister @AmitShah Ji for lucidly explaining all aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. He also gave elaborate answers to the various points raised by respective MPs during the discussion in the Lok Sabha.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 9, 2019
During the debate in Lok Sabha, Shah said that the Bill is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance manifesto. He argued that it does not discriminate against any minority community as alleged by the opposition. On the other hand, several opposition MPs voiced their opinion against the bill, claiming it discriminates against Muslims on the basis of religion.
”As per the bill, it will not be applicable to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the sixth schedule of the Constitution and in the areas covered under The Inner Line, notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Currently, the ILP regime is applicable in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram,” said the Union Home Minister.
Several opposition parties including the Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongly opposed the bill and protested against it. Congress MPs led the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the House, calling it aviolation of the Indian Constitution, secular ethos, culture and civilisation.
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As the discussion regarding the bill reached towards its end, Amit Shah claimed, ”Under no dimension, this bill is unconstitutional, or is against Article 14.” In a bid to prove his statement, Shah added, ”In 1991, Hindu population was 84% and in 2011, it was 79%. In 1991, the Muslim population was 9.8% and today it’s 14.23%. We have done no discrimination on basis of religion and in future as well, there will be no discrimination based on religion.”
Source: Zee News