New Delhi, Dec 09, TEN Network | Union Home Minister Amit Shah tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid vehement opposition from Northeastern states. The bill aims to amend the six-decade-old Citizenship Act and provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, people in the Northeast are protesting against the bill as they believe it is an attempt by the Central government to nullify the Assam Accord of 1985, which intends to deport illegal immigrants irrespective of their religious affiliations. Several prominent students organisations in the Northeast have threatened to launch a massive agitation if the bill is passed.
Follow the live updates on Citizenship Bill in Parliament
01:05 pm | Amit Shah says Congress divided the country on the grounds of religion in the first place, not the BJP. He adds that the bill aims to provide protection to minorities which are being persecuted in neighbouring Islamic republics.
12:55 pm | AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asserted that secularism is the basic structure of the country and the Citizenship Bill violates the fundamental rights of people.
“I appeal to you (Speaker), save the country from such a law and save Home Minister also, otherwise like in Nuremberg race laws and Israel’s citizenship act, Home Minister’s name will be featured with Hitler and David Ben-Gurion,” added Owaisi.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla warned Owaisi to not use such unparliamentary language in the House and expunged his remark from records.
12:50 pm | Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called the bill an assault on the foundation of the Republic of India.
12:45 pm | TMC’s Saugata Roy says this bill is divisive and unconstitutional, it violates Article 14 of the Constitution. This law is against everything our founding fathers including Dr Ambedkar envisioned.
12:40 pm | Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP NK Premachandran asserts that the bill violates the basic structural features of the Constitution envisioned in the preamble as an entitlement of citizenship based on religion is against the secular fabric of the country.
12:35 pm | Meanwhile, Union Minister Giriraj Singh has said, “The women of the non-Muslim communities in our neighbouring countries are not safe. For the protection of non-Muslim communities from our neighbouring countries, the Citizenship Amendment Bill is going to be tabled in the parliament. It is our duty to enact this law in the interest of our brethren across the borders.”
“In a democracy, everybody has got a right to protest. But is it not true, that the country’s partition took place on the basis of religion? In India, we accepted the policy of equality of religions. But in Pakistan and Bangladesh the non-Muslims are being exploited,” he added.
12:30 pm | Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has said that the party has the right to protest against the bill while Congress asserted that the bill undermines Article 14 of the Constitution and is regressive in nature.
12:25 pm | Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury takes a dig at the bill saying it is nothing but a targeted legislation over minority people of our country.
Union Minister Amit Shah hits back saying the bill is not even .001% against minorities in the country. “I will answer all questions on the Bill. Then don’t walk out from the House,” he added.
12:20 pm | Union Home Minister Amit Shah tables the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha.
12:15 pm | Before the introduction of the bill, BJP demands an apology from two Congress MPs for their alleged misconduct with Union Minister Smriti Irani in the House on December 6.
12:00 pm | Samajwadi Party chief and Azamgarh MP Akhilesh Yadav has said that his party is against the bill and will oppose it at all costs.
Meanwhile, protests are being held in the Parliament complex and elsewhere in the city against the Citizenship Bill.
11:45 am | Shops have been closed in Guwahati, Assam following the shutdown called by various organisations opposing the citizenship bill.
11:30 am | All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal said this bill is against the Constitution and against Hindu-Muslim unity. We will reject this bill and Opposition is with us on it. We will not let this bill pass, he added.
11:15 am | Slamming the citizenship bill, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said, “The citizenship amendment bill, more or less, is the two-nation theory of Pakistan”s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah being effectively implemented by BJP. India should not follow Pakistan”s way. Religion cannot be the basis of its nationhood.”
11:00 am | Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives in the Parliament ahead of the crunch session on the bill.
10:45 am | Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) party MPs hold a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament premises against the Citizenship Bill.
10:30 am | Talking about the bill, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi said, “This bill is in the interest of Northeast states and the country. The bill will get the nod from both the Houses of the Parliament.”
10:15 am | Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting the minister to include Shia community in the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019.
10:00 am | Protest being held in Agartala against Citizenship Amendment Bill in Tripura. Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) is in Lok Sabha’s List of Business for today, to be introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
9:45 am | Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 will be introduced in the Lok Sabha after Question Hour.
9:30 am | Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP PK Kunhalikutty has given Adjournment Motion Notice in Lok Sabha opposing introduction of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019.
9:15 am | Shiv Sena has taken a middle path in the Citizenship Bill debate. The party has recommended giving citizenship to illegal immigrants but not voting rights. Shiv Sena has suggested no voting rights to such immigrants for 25 years.
9:00 am | Assam BJP leader Himanta Biswa has reiterated, “This bill intends to protect people who have been religiously persecuted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh… so how can you expect it to be secular?”
8:45 am | Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called the bill “fundamentally constitutional” which violates the “basic idea of India”. The Opposition is claiming that the citizenship bill threatens the secular nature of the Constitution.
8:30 am | West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is one of the most fierce opponents of the bill. She recently said, “If you give citizenship to all communities, we will accept it. But if you discriminate on the basis of religion, we will fight it.” (TN)
