India tables Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament |
As the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, it triggered widespread protests in the North Eastern States. The bill was taken for discussion later in the day. The legislation is intended to amend the existing law in order to grant exemptions to illegal migrants in selected categories. The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants of six communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship. The communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. The legislation relaxes the 11-year criteria for citizenship to six years for refugees belonging to these six religions. The Bill also proposes to give immunity to such refugees facing legal cases after being found illegal migrants. The amendment will not be applicable to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura and in the areas covered under the Inner Line Permit. The ILP regime is applicable in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. The Bill has triggered protests in the northeastern States. Parties like Congress, TMC and Left have already objected to the provisions of the bill. Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Congress will oppose the bill as it is in violation of the Constitution and secular ethos of the country.
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