Indian Parliament passes anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019

Indian Parliament has passed the Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB 2019) on Monday after getting 311 votes. The bill was passed after a huge debate between the government and the opposition.

CAB 2019 proposed, Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, and Jains will get Indian citizenship. In addition to this, Buddhists living and suffering in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who want to settle in India can get citizenship as well.

The bill got huge criticism from the opposition, as they claimed that the bill victimizes the rights of Muslims based on their religion.

Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party started protesting against the bill. The opposition claimed that the bill is violating Indian culture, constitution, secular ethos, and civilization.

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi had torn a copy of the bill into pieces even before the bill was not passed yet, claiming that the bill is not as per the Indian constitution and it opposes rights of freedom fighters. He also claimed his reaction to the bill as similar to Mahatma Gandhi’s reaction at the time of discriminatory citizenship card in South Africa.

Indian Union Muslim League MPs also protested by keeping placards in their hands inside the parliament in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue.

However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah defended and explained his point in detail. He demonstrated that the bill is made as per Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance manifesto.

He said that the bill is not against any minority group.

Amit Shah said, “Under no dimension, the bill is unconstitutional, or is against Article 14.”

He added, “In 1991, the Hindu population was 84% and the Muslim population was 9.8%. In 2011, the Hindu population was 79% and the Muslim population is 14.23% today. We have done no discrimination based on religion and will not do in the future as well.”

The bill was passed after getting the majority of 311 votes in favor and 80 in against it.

It should be remembered that the Union Cabinet had approved this bill on December 4, 2019. Congress had conducted a meeting at Janpath before the introduction of the bill, as they claimed they will oppose the bill to the fullest.