Today in Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah tabled the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 in the lower house amid the objection by the opposition.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there.
Here are the highlights from the Parliament:
- Speaking on the Bill, Shah said: “In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Jains have been discriminated against. So this bill will give these persecuted people citizenship. Also, the allegation that this bill will take away the rights of Muslims is wrong.”
- Asserting that the Bill is not discriminatory against any community, Shah further said: “I am bringing a historic bill today. There was a lot of talk in the morning that this bill is discriminatory against one community. I want to state it again that this bill is not discriminatory against any community.”
ALSO READ: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019: Everything you need to know
- Whereas, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury argued that the Bill is nothing but targeted legislation over minority people of our country. Countering Chowdhury, Shah said, “This Bill is not even .001% against minorities in the country”.
#LokSabha: Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on #CitizenshipAmendmentBill,” It nothing but a targeted legislation over minority people of our country”. Union Minister Amit Shah says, “This Bill is not even .001% against minorities in the country”. pic.twitter.com/ttvfiqXzUh
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) December 9, 2019
- Manish Tewari, Congress in Lok Sabha: This is against Article 14, 15, 21, 25 and 26 of the Constitution. This Bill is unconstitutional and against basic right of equality.
Manish Tewari,Congress in #LokSabha: This is against article 14, article 15, article 21, article 25 and 26 of the Indian constitution. This bill is unconstitutional and against basic right of equality #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 pic.twitter.com/DirTmTKOje
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) December 9, 2019
- The Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed by Lok Sabha
- The Recycling of Ships Bill 2019 passed in Rajya Sabha
- 293 votes in favour of the introduction of Citizenship Bill. While there were 82 votes against the introduction of the contentious Bill.