NEW DELHI, Dec 31 - Decks have been cleared for finalisation of the draft Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, with the Committee deciding to submit its report in Parliament on January 7.
On Wednesday the Committee is likely to seek a short extension till January 7. It is meeting on January 3 to finalise the draft report.
With this, the Narendra Modi government will be left with just a day, with the winter session of Parliament coming to an end on January 8.
According to sources, today�s meeting saw full attendance of the MPs of BJP and its allies, while Biju Janata Dal supported the ruling party. BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab had moved an amendment proposing that Bangladesh should be kept out of the purview of the Bill. It was rejected.
The opposition was left with only six MPs. The meeting saw heated exchanges between some opposition members and JPC chairman Rajendra Agrawal. The opposition MPs today also recorded their dissent. A few members are expected to submit their written dissent ahead of the January 3 meeting.
The first dissent occurred when the opposition MPs rejected the chairman�s suggestion that they should opt for voice vote. The opposition demanded that voting should be done by raising of hands, which was subsequently accepted.
Sources said the amendments moved by the opposition MPs were all rejected during voting, barring an amendment moved by Meenakshi Lekhi of BJP, which was passed by consensus. The BJP MP�s amendment was on technical issues, about certain words and phrases.
It seems the ruling BJP MPs came determined to have the amendments rejected and in the process even some neutral amendments were voted down, observed a JPC member.
The most interesting development was over the two amendments moved by President�s nominee Swapan Dasgupta. He withdrew his amendments stating that he has received assurances from the government in this regard. Dasgupta�s amendment proposed removing Assam from the purview of the Bill and that the Bill was in violation of the Section 6A of the Citizenship Act. The section deals with the cut-off date of 1971 proposed in the Assam Accord and was inserted through an amendment after signing of the Accord.
Dasgupta was reportedly challenged by the opposition, who demanded a clarification from him as to who has assured him in this regard. In the end, the chairman intervened and had his statement removed from the records, said sources.
Sources added that Bhubaneswar Kalita had an exchange of words with the JPC chairman, when he referred to the two Central notifications of 2015 and demanded that it should be scrapped, as they were subordinate legislations and against the principle because legislation is first passed and then subordinate legislations are framed. In this case, the subordinate legislations were first passed by the government in 2015 and were unconstitutional and in violation of the provisions of the Assam Accord.
The two notifications, which have now been challenged in the Supreme Court, include the Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015, and The Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015.
He suggested that the Bill should not be brought in its present form and the wording �Hindus from Bangladesh� should be amended and the government may later reintroduce a Bill with these amendments. This proposal was also rejected, said sources.
Reacting to the recent developments over the Bill, BJP MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, who is a member of the JPC, said the Bill is not for Assam only but for the entire country. The Bill will have no impact in Assam as some sections have apprehended, he asserted.
�The JPC is mandated to submit its report and it is for the Parliament to decide. And there is no question of playing with the emotion of the people. The JPC will respect the emotion of the people,� he said, adding, �Some elements are misleading the people and misinterpreting the Bill.�
Now, all eyes will be on the scheduled visit of the Prime Minister to Silchar on January 4, when he is expected to make some announcements.
