The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) is just one step away from becoming an Act after the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed it by 125-99, bringing down the curtain on a seven-hour proceedings marked by sharp exchanges between the Opposition and treasury Benches.
The Bill will now become an Act after Presidential notification, but it is bound to face judicial challenge. Congress veterans Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram made it clear that the next battle will be fought in the Supreme Court to prevent the Government from implementing the divisive legislation.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there. The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Home Minister Amit Shah rejected the Opposition charge during the debate that the Bill is against Muslims and said they have nothing to fear.
The Bill was passed with 125 votes in favour and 99 against it. Besides the BJP, its allies such as the JD(U) and the SAD, the legislation was supported by AIADMK, BJD, TDP and YSR-Congress.
Earlier, the House rejected motions to send the Bill to a select committee of the House with 124 members voting against it as compared to 99 in its favour. The Shiv Sena, which had voted in favour of the Government in the Lok Sabha, boycotted the voting in the Upper House after participating in the debate.
While Shah rejected the Opposition’s charge that the CAB was anti-Muslim, saying it did not take away the citizenship of any Indian Muslim and only seeks to give the same to persecuted minorities of three neighbouring countries, Congress leaders Sibal and Chidambaram tore the Government claims point by point on whether it violates the basic features of Indian Constitution.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill marks a “dark day” in constitutional history of India and a “victory of narrow minded and bigoted forces” over the country’s pluralism. In a statement, she also reiterated Congress’ determination to be relentless in its struggle against what she alleged was the BJP’s “dangerously divisive and polarising agenda”.
Replying to the debate on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Shah said the need to bring this Bill would not have arisen had Partition not taken place on the basis of religion. “We have included six religions. There is no appreciation. The only focus is on Muslims.... Are Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan minorities.... Isn’t it secularism?
“Will it be secularism only if Muslims are included? As per your definition, only if Muslims come, then it will be secularism,” said Shah, adding that in the last five years, over 500 Muslims have been accorded Indian citizenship.
Countering the Opposition’s charge that the Bill is unconstitutional, Shah said Article 14 of the Constitution does not prohibit Parliament from making laws in this regard if there is reasonable classification. “There is a specific class. We are taking all minorities,” Shah said.
Shah said the Bill seeks to correct the wrong done by the partition of the country on religious lines.
He went on to attack the Congress for alleged double speak on the issue, saying the party had during its rule given Indian citizenship to 13,000 Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan without raising a word about the same for other communities.
He also said the Bill does not violate Article 14 of the Constitution as it does not prohibit laws based on reasonable classification.
On why persecuted minorities from countries such as Sri Lanka were not part of the legislation, Shah said Tamils from the island country had been given Indian citizenship in past and the present law is to tackle a specific problem
Asserting that neither the Citizenship Bill, nor the previously passed legislation making practice of triple talaq punishable and the scrapping Article 370 are anti-Muslim, he said the present legislation is to give citizenship and does not to take away citizenship of anyone. Indian Muslims are citizens of the country and will remain so, he said. “Citizenship of Indian Muslims is not being taken away,” he said.
Participating in the debate on the Bill in the Upper House, two eminent lawyers -Sibal and Chidambaram said the legislation is not legally and morally tenable as it is against the basic principles of the Indian Constitution.
While Chidambaram termed the Bill “a slap on the face of Parliament” and said the Government is “ramming” through with it in order to advance its Hindutva agenda, Sibal accused the Government of giving a legal colour to the “two nation theory” and urged it not to convert “Indian republic into a jurassic republic where there are two dinosaurs”.
Raising objections to the Bill, Sibal said, “First, it gives a legal colour to the two nation theory. Two, religion cannot be a factor in acquisition of citizenship that has been rejected by the Constitution of India.” He said citizenship can be acquired if a person is born in India or parents are born in India or if s/he is an ordinary resident in India. “There is no fourth concept on the basis of which citizenship can be granted,” he said.
