By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, Dec 9, 2019 (BSS) – Amid opposition protest, the contentious
‘Citizenship (Amendment) Bill’ was placed in Lok Sabha to grant citizenship
to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the bill that created uproar in
the House as the opposition MPs protested the bill saying that once it is
passed, the law would go beyond the secular principles enshrined in the
India’s Constitution as it excludes a particular community (Muslim).
Shah introduced the draft of the bill after a one and half-hour heated
debate followed by voting in which 293 MPs out of 375 present in the house
voted in favour of introduction of the bill.
The bill proposes to give citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis and Christian if they entered India from the three neighboouring
countries on or before December 31, 2014.
Earlier, union cabinet cleared the bill on Wednesday fulfilling a key
election pledge of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that came to power for
the second term by getting huge mandate in the last general election.
While introducing the bill, Union Home Minister 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,” he
added.
However, Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor while protesting the bill said
“the bill is an assault on the democratic values of Indian Constitution and
this is violation of the fundamental structure of the Constitution of India”.
Prof Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress said the bill is against Article
14 of the Constitution. “This law is against everything our founding fathers
including Dr. Ambedkar envisioned,” he added.
N. K. Premachandran, Member of Parliament of Revolutionary Socialist
Party, said that the bill violates the basic structural features of the
constitution envisioned in the preamble as entitlement of citizenship based
on religion is against the secular fabric of the country.
Besides, the influential North East Students’ Organisation has announced an
11-hour shutdown on Tuesday protesting the bill that what it said the
violation of Assam accord of 1985, media reports said.
In Assam, prominent student groups have threatened to launch an all-out
agitation – similar to the one from last year – if the bill is passed, the
reports added.
The original Citizenship Act of 1955 stated that individuals seeking Indian
citizenship should have lived in the country for 11 of the last 14 years.
The amendment proposes to reduce that time period to five years for non-
Muslim applicants, and grants them immunity from government action pertaining
to their illegal status.