New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 (CAB) on Wednesday with 125 members voting for and 105 against the Bill. Earlier the demand for referring the Bill to the Select Committee was negated.
The members of Shiv Sena, the latest Congress ally, were absent at the time of voting. The Janata Dal (United) voted for the Bill.
The CAB paves the way for citizenship to lakhs of illegal immigrants living in various parts of the country, even if they lacked any document to prove their residency.
The cut-off date for being eligible for the Indian nationality is December 31, 2014, which means those applying for citizenship should have entered India on or before this date. The citizenship would be granted with retrospective effect.
The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on Monday.
Seeking all members” support to the legislation, Home Minister Amit Shah requested opposition not to use politics to divide the society.
Replying to the debate, Shah said 44 members presented their views, suggestions and objections in the House. “I want present few facts. This Bill should have not been brought. There was no need to amend the Citizenship Act if country was not divided. Also, had some previous government acted, we would have not brought the Bill,” he said.
Stressing the need of the Bill, Shah said, “For how long we will keep on delaying the problems of the country. The Liaquat-Nehru pact (or the Delhi Pact) happened on April 8, 1950. Both the countries agreed to treat minorities with dignity and allow them to freely follow their religion. It was a promise. But eventually the promise was broken.”
He assured the House that the Bill would allow illegal immigrants to say the truth that they were immigrants and seek citizenship. “The cries and tears of these people were never heard or cared for for so many years,” the Minister said.
