A united opposition in the Lok Sabha on Thursday forced the BJP-led NDA government to send the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, to a joint select committee of Parliament.
The draft Bill seeks to help migrants of virtually all denominations — except Muslims — from the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to get Indian citizenship after a stay of six years.
Soon after Question Hour, Biju Janata Dal leader Bhartruhari Mahtab raised the issue, saying it was an important Bill and needed detailed scrutiny.
“India, from time immemorial, has been accepting people, who are persecuted because of their religious belief, with open arms. We have accepted people from all quarters of this world,” Mr. Mahtab said, even as he asked the government to send it to a joint committee that could be asked to submit its report in a time-bound manner
The Congress’s Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Trinamool Congress’s Sudip Bandhopadhyay and the CPI(M)’s Mohammad Salim also supported the demand.
Assam AccordMr. Scindia and Mr. Salim particularly pointed out that the amendments to the draft Bill would have a direct impact on the Assam Accord that had dealt, among other issues, with the problem of “foreigners,” largely those who had migrated from Bangladesh. The Trinamool Congress will also be directly affected by this Bill because it too shares a border with Bangladesh, and the subject of migrants from that country has long been a hot button issue in West Bengal.
Responding to the demand of the Opposition, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said if this was the view of all parties, then he had no problem in sending it to a joint committee.
Aiming at providing succour to refugees from neighbouring countries, the government had last month introduced the Bill to amend the Citizenship Act so that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Parsis, but not Muslims, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan could be granted citizenship even if they did not have the required documents.
