Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: Centre stresses that the Bill is about Western India Too

Guwahati: Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on January 8, 2019, with a purpose of amending the Citizenship Act, 1955. The outcome of the implementation of the Bill would be like, the illegal migrants who are basically non-Muslims, i.e., the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians that have migrated into India from the neighbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, will be considered as eligible to obtain Indian citizenship. After being passed in the Lok Sabha, the bill is now tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

The government at the center, who proposed the bill in Lok Sabha, mainly Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while speaking in the lower house, has stated that the bill is not just for Assam but for other states of India too. He also added people coming from Pakistan and Afghanistan who have come to places like Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi will also be settled in those states.

This is also true that whatever is being said by the Union minister along with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is valid, but what comes hidden along this order is not made clear by them. The state which is going to be affected the most after the CAB gets implemented is Assam along with its neighbouring states. The uncountable number of illegal immigrants coming from Bangladesh will get permission to opt for Indian citizenship and make Assam their permanent home which is the burning issue right now. It is for this issue that the people of Assam are rebelling and are asking the Bill for not to be implemented.

Hence, there is no point of the government to repeat the same words again and again that this bill is for the entire nation and every state will have to carry the burden.

The passing of the Bill witnessed massive protest and denial from the members of the opposition in the Lower House. Opposition parties like Congress and TMC decided to walk out of the Lok Sabha while the CAB was tabled.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 was first introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016, and it was introduced as an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955. As per this Bill, the illegal migrants who belong to the same six religions and are non-Muslims and also hails from the three countries, are eligible for citizenship of India.

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