Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 - A Midnight affair

After a long 12-hour discussion, the Lok Sabha has finally passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 on 9th December 2019 thus creating a concrete path for an All India National Register of Citizen (NRC). The honorable Home Minister Shri Amit Shah has tabled this bill in the lower house and delivered a speech to make the Members of Parliament understand this amendment act. The CAB 2019 will provide citizenship to the non-Muslim or religious minority people who migrated from Pakistan, Afghanistan & Bangladesh escaping the persecutions & also to save their culture & traditions. The religious minority here includes people practicing Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism & Zoroastrianism (Parsis), who were earlier deemed as illegal migrants. Now they will get fast track Indian citizenship within 6 years as against the standard eligibility requirement, which is 12 years of residence in the country.

Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 - A Midnight affair 

What is NRC and how it is associated with the CAB 2019

National Register of Citizen is an information register to list the names and other important data for the identification of Indians in Assam. This register is maintained by the Government of India and was first prepared after 1951 census of India. The main aim of this act was to restrict illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and to protect indigenous culture & traditions of Assam.

Originally the NRC was maintained only for the state of Assam but after the recent amendment in the Indian citizenship act, 1955, registration process of identification may extend to the whole country. By this Government of India will get to know about the illegal immigrants in our country.

Why some Members of Parliament were against this amendment bill

The recent amendment of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 was strongly opposed by the congress led opposition parties and stated it as the discriminatory in nature and violation of the constitution’s Article 14 of fundamental rights. Mr. Assasudin Owaisi MP from Hyderabad, while delivering his speech has stated that this bill will discriminate the status of Muslim & backward communities in the country. Trinamool congress’s MP Mr. Abhishek Banerjee opposed this amendment by stating that BJP’s idea of India is divisive and will shock Swami Vivekananda if he was alive. Another member from the opposition’s camp Mr. Dayanidhi Maran DMK leader said Government doesn’t want to get isolated by the west that is why they have included Christians in the accepted minority group. Along with this he also questioned BJP that what if Muslims from Pakistan occupied Kashmir wants to immigrate.

What Government says about this Act

The honorable Home Minister of the country Mr. Amit Shah delivered the speech where he cleared the idea behind the introduction of this bill and also answered all questions & clarified doubts that were posted by the opposition. He clearly stated that this amendment will allow the government to provide citizenship to the religious minority people that include Hindu, Christian, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. This amendment will help non-Muslim people of Islamic nations to save their lives from religious persecution and also tradition & culture. While answering the question of religion & communal discrimination by the opposition, Mr. Shah said that country’s Muslims & backward communities have nothing to do with this the proposed bill and their rights & status stay intact, strong & always protected. On the accusation of the divisive nature of this bill by the opposition, Mr. Shah said that this country has been divided on the basis of religion by congress in the leadership of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Now, BJP led government is, in fact, safeguarding the rights & lives of minority people in neighboring Islamic nations, who are getting persecuted there on a religious basis.

Why Muslims from neighboring Islamic nations are excluded

For this Mr. Shah said that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are Islamic republic nations where Muslims are in Majority, so as per this bill they will be not considered for citizenship. Along with this, he also gave a strong statement on Rohingyas that they will be never accepted as citizens of India as this group has infiltrated through Bangladesh.

Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi has expressed his joy and happiness on the passage of CAB 2019 through twitter.

The CAB 2019 is all set to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Where BJP is confident about the passage of the bill, the congress led oppositions at the same time are preparing 8 point agenda to oppose the government on the amendment.