LS passes Citizenship Bill with 311 votes

Oppn calls it regressive | Owaisi tears Bill in House | Protests in North-East 

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 9 

The Lok Sabha a little past midnight on Tuesday passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution back home. 

The Bill, passed after a heated debate lasting over seven hours with 311 members favouring it and 80 voting against it, will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha. 

The proposed legislation aims to protect refugees from facing proceedings of illegal immigration. The cut-off date for citizenship is December 31, 2014, meaning the applicant should have entered India on or before that date. Indian citizenship, under present law, is given either to those born in India or anyone residing here for a minimum 11 years.

Calling it “regressive”, a united Opposition favoured grant of rights to Hindus and other communities, but opposed leaving persecuted Muslims out of the Bill’s ambit. Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Akali Dal, a BJP ally, also sought that persecuted Muslims be included. Some parties questioned leaving out minorities from Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Home Minister Amit Shah, in his reply to the debate, said there was no political agenda behind the Bill and that it was only a constitutional process to give citizenship to those denied basic civil rights. “The Bill does not violate any Article of the Constitution. It does not affect any Muslim in India…. The National Register of Citizens will be implemented across the country,” said Shah.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary said his party was not opposing inclusion of persecuted Hindus or other minorities, but was against the exclusion of people of one religion (Muslims). Earlier in the day, Congress MP Manish Tewari, opening the arguments for his party, countered Shah who had said the Congress was responsible for Partition on the basis of religion. “I want to make it clear that the foundation for the two-nation theory was laid at a Hindu Mahasabha session in 1935 in Ahmedabad by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, and not by the Congress,” said Tewari. Shah did not counter Tewari’s Savarkar remark, but asked why the Congress accepted the division on religious lines.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tore the Bill in the House. The Bill aims to give Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Parsis refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, thus amending the Citizenship Act, 1955. 

The provisions of the amendments would not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and “The Inner Line” notified area under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Shah said Manipur would be brought under the Inner Line Permit (ILP).

In January, a report of the joint committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, (of the previous Lok Sabha), spoke about the number of persons who would be benefited. It quoted the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as saying: “As per our records, there are 31,313 persons belonging to minority communities.”

Sukhbir said the minorities had vanished in Pakistan as they were forced to convert as that was the only way of survival for them. Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, BSP, NCP, TRS, SP and the YSR Congress Party, opposed the move to keep Muslims refugees out of the Bill’s ambit. Shah earlier said the Bill had the “endorsement of 130 crore Indian citizens” and rejected suggestions the measure was divisive.

Congress accused of dividing India on basis of religion

Had the Congress not accepted Partition on the basis of religion, there wouldn’t have been the need to bring this Bill today. The Congress divided India on the basis of religion.... The Bill has backing of 130 crore Indians. Amit Shah, home minister

In line with centuries-old ethos of assimilation

Delighted that Lok Sabha has passed the Citizenship Bill. I thank MPs and parties that supported the Bill. It is in line with India’s centuries-old ethos of assimilation and belief in humanitarian values. Narendra Modi, PM

Govt confident  of numbers in RS

New Delhi, December 9

With a number of non-attached parties indicating support to Citizenship Bill, the government’s floor managers in the RS today expressed hope that the contentious legislation would sail through in the Upper House too.

The Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bil a little past midnight on Monday.

The 245-member Upper House has an effective strength of 240 and the government needs 121 votes to get the Bill passed. A BJP leader said with BJP’s 83 members in the House, the NDA has the strength of 105 MPs, including two Independents. — TNS