NEW DELHI, Jan 8 - The Opposition and few NDA allies on Tuesday criticised the Modi government for bringing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in a haste and pleaded that the Bill should be again referred to a Select Committee for further scrutiny.
Soon after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh introduced the Bill, leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said that several parties were opposed to the Bill as there was shortcomings in the Bill, and unity and integrity of the nation was at risk. He demanded that the Bill should be referred to Parliamentary Select Committee.
While senior Congress leaders, including party president Rahul Gandhi, were absent, it was left to Gaurav Gogoi and Ninong Ering to protest. They displayed posters �Save Assam, Save Assam Accord� and raised slogans before staging a walkout.
The Bill was opposed by TMC, CPI-M, CPI, BJD, Janata Dal (U), RJD, Shiv Sena and AIUDF, among others. At least 14 speakers participated in the debate.
Participating in the discussion, Bijoya Chakravarty said that the Bill has attempted to provide constitutional safeguard to indigenous people and it will save Assam.
Appealing to the Union Home Minister to ensure that Assam does not have to bear the additional burden of population, Chakravarty pleaded that illegal infiltrators should not be allowed to settle down in Assam. The 40 lakh people, who have been detected in the NRC exercise, should be settled in other states,� she said.
�Since 1951, Assam absorbed the additional population of 40 lakh who entered the State. We cannot delete or deport the illegal migrants,� she said. �Today, the situation is such that indigenous people cannot contest in all the 126 Assembly seats,� she added.
Chakravarty said that Muslim population in various districts like Barpeta, Dhubri, Darrang and Nagaon have shown drastic increase. �Our VGR land, rivernine areas, forests are in the clutches of the Bangladeshis,� she said, adding, the situation has come to such a pass that Assam is now described as �Arab of the East�, the BJP MP claimed.
AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal said that the Bill should be rejected and withdrawn. �The people of Assam feel that it is against the State and has been brought for the 2019 election, without understanding the feelings of the people,� he said.
�It is against the Constitution and the Centre cannot take the credit of updating the NRC because it is being done at the initiative of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has started the NRC process and credit goes to the apex court,� Ajmal said.
Participating in the debate, Saugata Roy of TMC describing the Bill as divisive and said that Assam and the Northeast were burning. �The Bill should be withdrawn because this is a divisive Bill. The amendments moved by the Opposition were defeated and no step was taken to evolve a consensus,� he said.
�We had proposed that we have no objection if the Bill is confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our suggestion was to just exclude Bangladesh,� Roy said, adding, they had proposed that the Bill should have also included Nepal and Sri Lanka.
�The BJP is giving with one hand and taking away with the other. On one hand, they have brought the Bill, while on the other hand, 40 lakh people have been excluded from the NRC. It is a diabolical attempt to divide the people for political gain,� he said.
For two years JPC chairman Rajendra Agrawal did nothing and now that the BJP wants to get the Bengali votes in West Bengal and Tripura, they are passing the Bill in haste, Roy said.
Participating in the discussion, Mohammad Salim said that the Bill is not to solve the problem but to create a new problem. He also mentioned that at first, the subordinate legislation was framed and then the legislation was brought. He said that citizenship cannot be given on the basis of religion. �You are not writing a Bill, but a poll manifesto of 2019 election, dividing people on the basis of language,� he said.
