MEA: Japan PM Shinzo Abe's India visit deferred by both sides to mutually convenient date

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar has confirmed the cancellation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India. Taking to micro-blogging platform Twitter, the spokesperson said, 

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Cancellation of visits by foreign leaders

The three-day-summit between Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was planned in Guwahati, however, the visit is deferred. As the MEA announced the cancellation, Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee called it a "blot on the country's reputation" if the Japanese PM cancels his visit amid the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act which has engulfed the majority of Northeast. On Thursday, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and the country's Home Minister called off their visits to India in the midst of the agitations in the northeast. 

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Protesters gathered in huge numbers on the streets of Guwahati despite imposing curfew by the administration. Protesters burnt an effigy of senior Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the Ambori area here while students of the Cotton University and Handique Girls college were also seen protesting against the bill that was passed in both houses. One of the protesters said, "It is a fight for our existence."

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About Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

After being passed in both houses of Parliament, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind making it a law. The Citizenship Amendment Act grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Through this act, Indian citizenship can be sought by the members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from the three countries to India till December 31, 2014, to put an end to them being treated as illegal immigrants in the country. The Bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha earlier this year but lapsed with the term of the previous Lok Sabha during the first term of the PM Narendra Modi government in the Centre. The bill was again passed in the winter session of Lok Sabha with a roaring majority of 311 votes in favor while 80 against the Bill, and in Rajya Sabha with 125 in favor of the bill out of the 245 member Rajya Sabha.

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