New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is all set to introduce the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, in Parliament Monday and is confident of passing it in both the Houses without a hiccup.
The bill, which was approved by the union cabinet on 4 December, seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there.
The bill is expected to have a smooth passage in the 545-member Lok Sabha, where the ruling BJP has 303 members. The government is, however, also confident of getting the bill passed in the 245-member Rajya Sabha where it has 81 MPs.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said the government is confident of passing the bill in both Houses like it did with the J-K Reorganisation Bill, 2019, in August and Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill in July, which criminalises instant triple talaq.
The Upper House currently has 238 members as seven seats are vacant. The BJP claims to have the support of 130 MPs — above the halfway mark of 119 — as it expects the BJD, the AIADMK, and the TRS, among others, to vote for the bill.
The Congress-led opposition, meanwhile, has the support of 105 members.
“Overall, we have numbers in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. There is enough to pass the bill with the help of like-minded parties,” Joshi told ThePrint.
Parties in support of the bill
The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session on January 8 this year but could not be cleared by the Upper House. The bill, however, lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in May after the general elections.
Bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of Lok Sabha. Bills passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha, however, lapse.
When the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, BJP ally JD(U), which has six members in the Upper House, had opposed it, but Nitish Kumar’s party has since changed its stance.
“We had certain issues with the bill in the past, particularly about the Northeastern states’ ethnic identity, but Home Minster (Amit Shah) has addressed this issue in the newly drafted bill. They have included inner line permit, so we will support,” JD(U) general secretary K.C. Tyagi told ThePrint.
The inner line permit areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram have been kept out of the ambit of the amended bill.
Another BJP ally, Akali Dal, which has three members, will also support the bill. “We have demanded in the past that Sikh refugees from Pakistan should get citizenship in India. So why will we oppose the bill?” said Naresh Gujral, Akali Dal MP in the Rajya Sabha.
The government is also hopeful of getting support from the AIADMK, which has 11 members. The AIADMK had supported the BJP government during the passage of the J-K Reorganisation and triple talaq bills.
“We will decide in a day or two (whether or not to support the bill), but we have supported the government on crucial bills in national interest last time,” said an AIADMK leader, who didn’t wish to be named.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD had seven members in the House and is likely to support the bill.
“We don’t see any problem with supporting this bill. However, our chief minister will take a final call on this,” said a BJD Member of Parliament on condition of anonymity.
Sources said that in order to appease the BJD, the BJP even withdrew its nominee, Ashwini Vaisnav, Thursday from the AIIMS’ governing council election to facilitate the victory of the BJD candidate.
Hinting at support for the bill, YSR Congress Party MP Vijaysai Reddy said: “We have supported the government on certain bills. India is a big, democratic country and it has certain responsibilities to accommodate refugees who are not part of their country.” The YSRCP has two members in the Rajya Sabha.
The government is also hopeful of getting the support of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which has six members in the House.
Also read: What is Inner Line Permit in Northeast and how it is linked to citizenship bill
‘Will demand the govt to send bill to select committee’
The Congress-led opposition held a meeting Thursday to intensify its campaign against this bill.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi said this is the first bill that has been framed on the basis of religious classification. “There are numerous issues about this bill that need to be addressed,” he said.
A few opposition members, however, told ThePrint that they don’t have numbers to stall the bill and will demand the government to send the bill to a Parliamentary select committee for scrutiny.
“If the government doesn’t agree, we will reach out to the public to make them aware of this bill, which will harm India’s democratic values,” said a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, who didn’t want to be named.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
Also read: Why is Assam opposing citizenship bill and how it is different from NRC update exercise