Mumbai:
Amidst exchange of sharp and heated debate the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The bill was passed with 311 members voting in favor and 80 members voting against the passage of the bill, out of the 391 members present in the house during the voting. The bill will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, Wednesday for passage.
In the Rajya Sabha the BJP has 116 MP’s on its side and needs votes of 123 MP’s to get the bill passed. The BJP needs support of 7 more MP’s which it feels will get the support of YSRCP and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to ensure the bill passes the litmus test in the Rajya Sabha.
Continuing with its ambivalent stance on the bill, Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency in Maharashtra, Vinayak Raut who had moved two amendments to the bill, did not finally press for their adoption. On the other hand, one amendment moved by P K Kunhalikutty (IUML) and two amendments moved by Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) were rejected by votes against their amendments.
Replying to the six hour long debate in the Union Home Minister Amit Shah argued that the CAB is not in violation of the constitutional provisions of Article 14, Article 21 and Article 25 of the constitution. Slamming the Congress, the Union Home Minister remarked that he never saw a communal party like the Congress which on the one hand allies with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala and allies with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra,
Allying fears that the bill was against the minority Muslim population in the country, the Union Home Minister stated that post Independence the Hindu population declined from 84 percent to 79 percent. Whereas, the Muslim population which was 9.8 percent in 1991, rose to 14 percent in 2011.
Moving the bill for passage in the house, he said that the bill was being brought to correct the long pending historical wrong committed against the persecuted minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, Christians and Jains who had immigrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Shah reiterated that the government will never accept Rohingya refugees as citizens. He ended his speech announcing that the government will soon move a bill enforcing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) very soon before the Parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his reaction stated that he was delighted that the CAB has been passed in the Lok Sabha after a rich and extensive debate. “This bill is in line with India’s centuries old ethos of assimilation and belief in humanitarian values”, he added.
On the other hand, leading the opposition charge, Shashi Tharoor (Congress) remarked that the passage of the bill will be victory of Jinnah’s thoughts over Gandhi’s. Janata Dal (United) leader Prashant Kishor expressed disappointment at his party JD(U) supporting the CAB which he said discriminates right of citizenship on the basis of religion.
