Lok Sabha will debate the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill on Tuesday and four hours have allotted for the debate and expected to bring the bill in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday or Thursday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that their party will oppose the Bill in Parliament.
Many opposition parties continued protest on the bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there. BJP leaders are confident of its passage in Rajya Sabha with the support of several non-aligned regional parties like the BJD and the TRS, which have often joined the treasury benches in the past, despite vehement opposition by the Congress and strident anti-BJP parties like the TMC, which have been claiming that citizenship can’t be given on the basis of religion.
The Congress, which has termed the bill "divisive" and discriminatory, made it clear on Thursday that it will oppose the draft legislation in Parliament. Making the party’s stand clear, its leader Rahul Gandhi said in Kerala that the Congress is against "any form of discrimination against anybody in this country".
"So anybody who discriminates against anybody who is Indian, we are against them. That is our line. We believe that India belongs to everybody- all communities, all religions, all cultures," Gandhi told reporters. In Lucknow, BSP president Mayawati described the bill as unconstitutional, and demanded that it be sent to a parliamentary committee for review.
"The Citizenship Amendment Bill cleared by the central cabinet is both unconstitutional and divisive. Citizenship in the name of religion and discrimination in the name of religion of the citizens through it is totally against the basic structure of the humanitarian and secular Constitution of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar," Mayawati told reporters. Opposition parties like the DMP and Trinamool Congress are also opposed to it.
The stand of Shiv Sena, a longtime Hindutva ally of the BJP which is now in the opposition camp, will be keenly observed by political watchers as it has been a strong votary of the bill but may now be forced to change its stand due to alliance with the Congress.