Amit Shah to table Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha today amid Northeast protests

Updated: Monday, December 9, 2019, 0:37 [IST]

New Delhi, Dec 08: Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha on Monday, amid opposition objections and widespread protests from the Northeast states.

The bill aims to provide citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Several such persons are living in India since the time of partition and are without any legal rights.

However, controversy has not spared this Bill. The Congress has already threatened to go to the Supreme Court.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday issued a three-line whip to all its lawmakers from Monday to Wednesday ahead of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill being introduced by the government.

"All BJP members in Lok Sabha are hereby informed that some very important Legislative Business will be taken up for discussion and passing in the Lok Sabha from Monday, the 9th December 2019 to Wednesday, the 11th December 2019," the letter reads.

"All members of the BJP in Lok Sabha are therefore, requested to be positively present in the House and support the government," it added.The Congress will "tooth and nail" oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament as it is against the country's Constitution and its secular ethos, party leaders said on Sunday.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress' leader in Lok Sabha, made the party's stand clear after a meeting of the Congress' parliamentary strategy group at party president Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence in New Delhi.

The Bill has triggered widespread protests in northeastern states with a large section of people and organisations opposing the Bill, saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.

The influential North East Students' Organisation (NESO) has called for an 11-hour bandh on December 10 in the region.