The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) opposed the the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 in the Lok Sabha on Monday and will do the same in the Rajya Sabha.
Their opposition could make the arithmetic slightly tricky for the BJP in the Upper House but still doesn't threaten the passage of the bill.
TRS floor leader in the Lok Sabha Namma Nageshwar Rao said in the House that the legislation was against the spirit of the Constitution. And the bill would be acceptable to his party only if the “bias against Muslims is removed.”
“This bill proposes to grant citizenship on religious lines, which is against the core of Indian Constitution,” Mr. Rao said in the House. Ironically, the government on November 26 celebrated 70th year of the passage of the Constitution and now it was working against it. “This bill strictly leaves out the minority community from getting citizenship, which is neither acceptable for the largest democracy of the world nor desirable for our multi-cultural, multi-language and pluralistic society,” he added.
The TRS has 9 members in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha. In the 16th Lok Sabha, when the earlier version of the bill was moved in January last, the 11 TRS MPs staged a walkout in protest. The bill was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha. Its stand came as a surprise for the BJP since the party had indicated to BJP leaders that it will indirectly support the government by either walking out or abstaining if it comes down to voting.
In the Rajya Sabha, along with its allies, the BJP has 102 members. So far, both the BJD (with seven MPs) and AIADMK (with 11 MPs) have announced their support for the bill, and together with them, the government will have 120 MPs, which is the majority mark in a House of 238 members.
