Citizenship Bill: Swara Bhasker, Soni Razdan, Nandita Das, Gauahar Khan strongly object

introduction of Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha on Monday led to a huge uproar in Parliament. topic also became a topic of discussion on social media, with hastags like #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019, #CABBill, #IndiaRejectsCAB and #IndiaWithCAB being among top trends on Twitter. Even celebrities from film industry were unhappy with developments in Parliament and expressed ir thoughts in uncertain terms. Swara Bhasker, Soni Razdan, Nandita Das and Gauhar Khan were among those who conveyed ir opposition to bill. y used some intense words like ‘Shame’, ‘ end of India’, a ‘sad day for Indian democracy’ and stated that it ‘undermines constitutional values’ and struck at 'heart of idea of India.' 

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Swara Bhasker termed it as ‘SHAME’, reacting to a graphic of votes over bill in Lok Sabha, that were 293 for it and 82 against it. Reacting to comments of a journalist who called bill as ‘death knell of Indian Constitution’, Alia Bhatt’s mor Soni Razdan wrote, “This is end of India we all kw and love. Or at least for many of us who do.” 

Nandita Das too replied to a news website’s report on it, writing, “ citizen amendment bill completely undermines constitutional values and rule of law. We need to realise that this is beyond party politics as it strikes at very heart of idea of India. It will longer be country our leaders fought for.” Gauahar Khan too wrote, “#CitizenshipAmendmentBill sad day for Indian democracy!” 

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At time of publishing this story, Citizenship Amendment Bill was up for discussion in Parliament. Trinamool Congress expressed its opposition by stating that it was against Article 14 and Article 11 of Indian Constitution. Congress too protested over bill. “This is against article 14, article 15, article 21, article 25 and 26 of Indian constitution. This bill is unconstitutional and against basic right of equality,” was Manish Tewari’s opinion. 

READ: Akhilesh Yadav: Samajwadi Party Will Oppose Citizenship Amendment Bill At All Costs

What is bill about? 

bills seeks to amend provisions of Citizenship Act 1955 that give refugees belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhism, Jain, Parsi and Christian religions from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan right to be eligible for citizenship. It also reduces number of years, from 14 to 6 years, for naturalised citizenship. It means those belonging to  aforementioned religions and nationalities can apply for Indian citizenship after living in India for six years.  citizenship of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders' too can be cancelled if y commit any crime. 

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