CAB is an attempt by 'Modi-Shah govt' to ethnically cleanse Northeast: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, Dec 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is an attempt by the "Modi-Shah government" to ethnically cleanse the Northeast and a "criminal attack" on the region.

Protests have been broken out in several parts of the Northeast over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday and will be placed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

"The CAB is an attempt by Modi-Shah government to ethnically cleanse the Northeast. It is a criminal attack on the Northeast, their way of life and the idea of India," Gandhi said in a tweet.

"I stand in solidarity with the people of the North East and am at their service," he said, tagging a media report on protests in the Northeast against the Bill.

The bill will now be tabled in Rajya Sabha for its nod on Wednesday. Echoing her brother Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "India's tryst with bigotry and narrow-minded exclusion" was confirmed with the bill being passed in the Lok Sabha at midnight on Monday. The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution in those countries.

The Bill is scheduled to be tabled by Shah in the Upper House at 2 pm. The proposed legislation seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

After heated discussions spanning seven hours, the Citizenship Bill was passed by a majority of 311 votes against 80 in the Lower House where 391 members were present and voting on Monday. The NDA will require the support of at least 123 MPs in the 245-member Rajya Sabha for the Bill to be passed.