Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah introduced the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday, December 9, amid opposition objections. Shah introduced the Bill to amend the six-decade-old Citizenship Act following which it would be taken up for discussion and passage.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Bill has already faced cold vibes from the opposition with the Congress calling it "unconstitutional".
Meanwhile, the BJP has issued a 3-line whip to all its members of parliament (MPs) to attend the session from December 9-11 to "support Government stand" on a slew of bills that the treasury bench is slated to move.
Congress calls it 'unconstitutional'
Two senior Congress leaders -- Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi on Monday trained their guns at the Centre over the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, hours before being tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Sibal said: "CAB is a cab ride with a divisive driver to destabilise, destroy our polity values-- both societal and constitutional with an eye only on political dividends Hath milao Desh bachao!"
Calling the bill "unconstitutional", Singhvi tweeted: "Congress opposes CAB tooth and nail in present form because its against constitution designed by the visionaries of a modern and plural society making India of Mahatma Gandhi different from our next door extremist neighbours."
AIADMK, Shiv Sena to back Bill
A move that may embarrass the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra, the Sena have decided to back the contentious CAB, which the Congress brands as "unconstitutional". On Monday, Shiv Sena's face in the Parliament Sanjay Raut took to Twitter to announce the same.
He said: "Illegal Intruders should be thrown out." But to balance its support for a Bill that the entire opposition has come together to object to, Raut added: "Immigrant Hindus must be given citizenship, but Amit Shah, let's give rest to allegations of creating vote bank & not give them voting rights, what say? And yes what about pandits? have they gone back to Kashmir after Article 370 was removed?"
