Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Ahead of the Central government’s decision to table the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Parliament next week, the Congress party has called a meeting of its senior leaders in the national capital. Earlier, Union Cabinet has cleared the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill on Friday.

The meeting will see the discussion over the Citizenship Amendment Bill. According to the confirmed reports, Senior leaders such as Ahmed Patel, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, and Manish Tewari will be present among others.

It has also been reported that the grand old party will invite the like-minded parties and allies because many parties such as Shiv Sena had also announced their support to the Bill. Congress party has been a strong opponent of the CAB bill as the senior leaders of the party stated that this bill has the potential to create a strong impact in North-Eastern states.

Previously, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi had also sent a party delegation of senior leaders to North-East states to assess the on-ground situation. The delegation then submitted the report to her.

Earlier, Assam MLAs belonging to Congress party and All India United Democratic Front demanded the quashing of question hour and a discussion on the topic of NRC (National Register of Citizens) and Citizenship Amendment Bill. On the refusal of their demands, the MLAs staged a walkout.

Citizenship Amendment Bill

The bill seeks to declare Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from AfghanistanBangladesh and Pakistan eligible for citizenship who came to India before December 31, 2014. The Bill only carries the provision of citizenship for the non-muslim population that arrived from the neighboring nations. The fear over the bill has increased since the Home Minister Amit Shah in North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) meeting said that that the Bill would be passed in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.

Previously also, many citizens from Assam including All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti took to the streets demanding the withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. 

Even North-eastern governments have come together to stand on this issue as one.

By Saurabh Parmar

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

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