Oppn speaking language of Pakistan on Citizenship Bill, says PM Modi at BJP meet

New Delhi, Dec 11: BJP parliamentary meeting, which was underway in the Parliament library, ended on Tuesday. The meeting was held ahead of voting in the Rajya Sabha over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani were among the top BJP leaders who attended the parliamentary meeting. Other members including Kirron Kher, Tejasvi Surya, Jitendra Singh, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Sakshi Maharaj, GVL Narasimha Rao, Roopa Ganguly and Ravi Kishan were also present.

PM Modi at BJP meet said, "Citizenship Bill will be written in golden letters, will give permanent relief to people who fled religious persecution. Opposition speaking the language of Pakistan on Citizenship Bill".

After the BJP parliamentary meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said that the Citizenship Bill will be tabled in Rajya Sabha at 12 pm today. He also hoped that the Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, will be passed in the Upper House with a comfortable majority.

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.