Legislation
The bill aims to provide citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday, with 311 ayes and 80 noes, after a marathon 12-hour long debate which saw strong voices of dissent emerge from the Opposition. The Bill excludes Muslims and aims to provide citizenship to refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Specifically, it outlines refugees belonging to six religions — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. Opposition leaders slammed the Bill, explaining that the legislation was against the basic principles of the Constitution as it discriminates on the basis of religion and would alienate Muslims, the largest minority community in the country.
The matter will now be taken by the Rajya Sabha, where, if it is passed, the Bill will be made into law following the President’s assent. The Bill had also been proposed during the Modi government’s last term, but it lapsed in the Lok Sabha.
In a heated-debate in parliament on Monday, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, said the government was trying to create an impression that by opposing the legislation, his party was anti-Hindu.
“We are opposing the bill because it is discriminatory in nature. It wreaks havoc on the very foundations of the Constitution. This is a step towards Hindu rashtra. India should maintain the essence of humanity,” Chowdhury said participating in the debate on the Bill.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi also launched a blistering attack on the Union government, saying the bill was aimed at making Muslims “stateless” and would lead to another partition.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Owaisi said he was called Mahatma after he tore the discriminatory citizenship card in South Africa, and the Hyderabad MP then ripped the copy of the bill to highlight his protest, inviting sharp reactions from the treasury benches which described his act an “insult” to Parliament.
This an insult to India’s freedom fighters, Owaisi retorted, accusing the BJP-led government of working to marginalise Muslims in the country.
Initiating the debate on the bill, Congress member Manish Tewari said the government has brought the legislation with a political intention “which everyone knows”, but did not elaborate.
Referring to the provisions in the Constitution, he said the bill was violative of the provisions of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 26.
These Articles mainly deal with right to equality and equal protection of law to everyone irrespective of caste, colour, creed or religion.
“The bill is against the Constitution, against the spirit of Constitution and against the ideology propounded by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Tewari said.
Discrimination on the basis of religion, he further said, was not in tune with the Preamble of the Constitution which specifically mentions the word ‘secularism’.
“Secularism is embedded in the Constitution,” he said.
Members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who come from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan and are facing persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship when the proposed amendments to the six-decade-old Citizenship Act come into effect. According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the new law, however, will not be applicable in the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime areas and those tribal regions which are governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Read: Explained: What the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is all about
While introducing the motion in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 is ‘not against minorities but against infiltrators’. He referred to the partition of India in 1947 and said the Congress ‘divided the country on the basis of religion’ necessitating the introduction of the Bill. However, he ignored the fact that it was Pakistan which adopted a state religion while India chose to remain secular.
Surpriya Sule (NCP) said the perception is that every Muslim is feeling insecure and the largest minority community should not feel left out, adding that the bill will not pass judicial scrutiny.
Referring to DMK MP K Kanimozhi, she said, “What happens to those who practise atheism?”
She also asked why Mynamar and Sri Lanka were not included in the list of countries along with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Bill is important in the context of the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam, where 19 lakh people were excluded from the list for not being able to prove their citizenship. In effect, this could guarantee citizenship to the non-Muslim people who were not on the NRC. Home Minister Amit Shah, who introduced this Bill, has also announced plans to expand the NRC exercise to the rest of the country and has set a deadline of 2024.
(With inputs from PTI)
The matter will now be taken by the Rajya Sabha, where, if it is passed, the Bill will be made into law following the President’s assent. The Bill had also been proposed during the Modi government’s last term, but it lapsed in the Lok Sabha.
In a heated-debate in parliament on Monday, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, said the government was trying to create an impression that by opposing the legislation, his party was anti-Hindu.
“We are opposing the bill because it is discriminatory in nature. It wreaks havoc on the very foundations of the Constitution. This is a step towards Hindu rashtra. India should maintain the essence of humanity,” Chowdhury said participating in the debate on the Bill.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi also launched a blistering attack on the Union government, saying the bill was aimed at making Muslims “stateless” and would lead to another partition.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Owaisi said he was called Mahatma after he tore the discriminatory citizenship card in South Africa, and the Hyderabad MP then ripped the copy of the bill to highlight his protest, inviting sharp reactions from the treasury benches which described his act an “insult” to Parliament.
This an insult to India’s freedom fighters, Owaisi retorted, accusing the BJP-led government of working to marginalise Muslims in the country.
Initiating the debate on the bill, Congress member Manish Tewari said the government has brought the legislation with a political intention “which everyone knows”, but did not elaborate.
Referring to the provisions in the Constitution, he said the bill was violative of the provisions of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 26.
These Articles mainly deal with right to equality and equal protection of law to everyone irrespective of caste, colour, creed or religion.
“The bill is against the Constitution, against the spirit of Constitution and against the ideology propounded by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Tewari said.
Discrimination on the basis of religion, he further said, was not in tune with the Preamble of the Constitution which specifically mentions the word ‘secularism’.
“Secularism is embedded in the Constitution,” he said.
Members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who come from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan and are facing persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship when the proposed amendments to the six-decade-old Citizenship Act come into effect. According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the new law, however, will not be applicable in the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime areas and those tribal regions which are governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Read: Explained: What the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is all about
While introducing the motion in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 is ‘not against minorities but against infiltrators’. He referred to the partition of India in 1947 and said the Congress ‘divided the country on the basis of religion’ necessitating the introduction of the Bill. However, he ignored the fact that it was Pakistan which adopted a state religion while India chose to remain secular.
Surpriya Sule (NCP) said the perception is that every Muslim is feeling insecure and the largest minority community should not feel left out, adding that the bill will not pass judicial scrutiny.
Referring to DMK MP K Kanimozhi, she said, “What happens to those who practise atheism?”
She also asked why Mynamar and Sri Lanka were not included in the list of countries along with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Bill is important in the context of the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam, where 19 lakh people were excluded from the list for not being able to prove their citizenship. In effect, this could guarantee citizenship to the non-Muslim people who were not on the NRC. Home Minister Amit Shah, who introduced this Bill, has also announced plans to expand the NRC exercise to the rest of the country and has set a deadline of 2024.
(With inputs from PTI)
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Source: TheNewsMinute.com