Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Union Home Minister Amit Shah tabled the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill), 2019 in the Lower House of the Parliament on December 9. The introduction of the CAB bill created a huge ruckus in the Lok Sabha.

Speaking on the bill, Amit Shah said that the CAB bill does not carry any political agenda behind it. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill), 2019 bill seeks to declare Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for citizenship who came to India before December 31, 2014. Although the Bill only carries the provision of citizenship for the non-muslim population that arrived from the neighboring nations.

The bill was vehemently opposed by many opposition parties. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor likened the ruling government to Jinnah. As quoted by ANI, he said, “Jinnah’s idea of Pakistan prevailed in the creation of Pakistan and our idea of India prevailed in our constitution, which gives everybody equal rights. But the problem is, this government thinks like Jinnah. They think Pakistan is a country for Muslims and we should be a country for Hindus.”

Asaduddin Owaisi even went to the next step by tearing down the copy of the bill. The leader further said the bill is aimed towards dividing the nation.

Samajwadi Party leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav accused the saffron party of hiding its failures behind the CAB bill. As quoted by ANI, he said, “They claimed that demonetization and GST will boost the economy. What is the condition today? The income of farmers has also not doubled. The law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh is also in poor condition. BJP is bringing this Bill to hide their failures.”

Commenting on the bill, Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule opposed to the speech of Home Minister and urged the latter to reconsider his decision on the bill.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader Nama Nagasewara Rao also informed the House that his party too opposes the bill. He further said that his party is committed to the ethos of secularism and constitutionalism.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Afzal Ansari also said that the CAB bill is unconstitutional.

However, Janata Dal-United leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh extended his party’s support to the bill. He said that the bill is right in its approach as it is dedicated to grant the citizenship status to the persecuted minorities of Pakistan.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee brought the ideals of Swami Vivekananda’s principles and said that the bill is against the idea of India.

Congress party leader Manish Tewari gave a detailed explanation of his opposition to the bill. He said that the bill is violative of the Constitutional provisions such as Article 14, 15, 21, 25 and 26. 

Previously, the Congress party had called a meeting of its senior leaders in the national capital to discuss the CAB issue.

It has also been reported that Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal requested the BJP workers to remove the apprehensions of the people regarding the bill from the people’s minds.

By Saurabh Parmar

Digital Journalist (Specializing in Indian affairs & Contemporary Political development)

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