Lower House okays citizenship bill amid protests in NE
NEW DELHI/GUWAHATI: The Lok Sabha cleared amendments to the Citizenship Act on Tuesday even as much of the country’s north-east was paralysed by protests against the legislation, which seeks to grant citizenship to religious minorities in neighbouring countries.
The citizenship amendment bill will now need to be cleared by Rajya Sabha, where the government does not have a majority and the Opposition has slammed the legislation as “divisive and flawed”.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh, while arguing in favour of the law in Lok Sabha, said the initiative was crucial to protect people, except the Muslim majority, who flee persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. “They have no place to go to, except India.”
Referring to the protests in the north-east, Singh tried to allay fears by saying that “the burden of those persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country. Assam alone should not have to bear the entire burden. Government of India is committed to give all help to the state government and people of Assam.” Instances of violence were reported from Assam and Tripura as most of the seven north-eastern states shut down.
In Tripura, the shutdown was limited to tribal areas.
The government in Tripura imposed a 48-hour ban on SMS and mobile data services after seven people were injured in a clash in Madhabbari in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. In Assam’s Dibrugarh and Golaghat districts, BJP offices came under attack from angry protestors. “Fourteen people have been arrested in Dibrugarh while four have been arrested in Golaghat and two in Guwahati,” said Mukesh Agarwal, additional director general of police, Law and Order.
The protests, which began on Monday, reflect the ethnic divisions in a region where people see migrants as those who take away jobs from indigenous groups.
The bill provides for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), BJP’s partner in the frontier state, has already snapped ties even as allies Shiv Sena and the JD(U) vehemently opposed the legislation.
Trinamool’s Saugata Roy dubbed the bill as “divisive” and “insidious”.
Singh recalled that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when the latter was the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had asked the then BJPled government to be more liberal in dealing with the issue of persecuted minorities in Bangladesh.