MASSIVE: Two days after Lok Sabha's nod, Rajya Sabha passes Citizenship Amendment Bill

On Wednesday, Rajya Sabha passed Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 (CAB) by a majority of 125-105 votes. This comes after more than 40 MPs including P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Az, Derek O'Brien, Sanjay Singh, Sanjay Raut, and Vaiko put forth ir arguments eir in favour or against CAB. Some members including Shiv Sena MPs walked out before commencement of voting process. Earlier on Monday, Lower House of Parliament cleared legislation with a landslide margin. Once President gives his assent to Bill, it will immediately come into operation.  

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Citizenship Amendment Bill 

Bill seeks to provide citizenship to mirity communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Banglesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to members of se communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, y will t be considered as illegal migrants. ditionally, mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for se communities would be reduced to 5 years. Several parties in rth East such as All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this Bill. To ameliorate ir concerns, Centre has exempted a major part of rth East from ambit of CAB.  opposition contends that Bill discriminates on basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees right to equality.  

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Various sts of Bill 

CAB was first introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016. reafter, it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which submitted its report on January 7, 2019. While it received assent of Lok Sabha very next day, Bill remained pending in Rajya Sabha as BJP did t have eugh numbers for its pass. After dissolution of Lok Sabha in May 2019, Bill automatically lapsed. 

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‘This was biggest mistake’ 

dressing Rajya Sabha during debate on CAB, Union Home Minister Amit Shah opined that partition on basis of religion was “biggest mistake”. He cited this as a justification for introducing CAB. He contended that re was need to amend existing law if partition h t taken place in first place. Earlier, in day, 44 MPs presented ir point of view on Bill. 

Shah stated, “ country wasn’t just partitioned. It was partitioned on basis of religion. This was biggest mistake. Due to that mistake, I am present here with this Bill.” 

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