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The government of Tripura suspended mobile internet and SMS services in the state for 48 hours, following reports of clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday and is likely to be introduced on Wednesday, media reports indicated.
Meanwhile, protests against the Bill are being witnessed, with an 11-hour Northeast bandh called by an umbrella body of students’ organisations beginning at 5 am on Tuesday.
Catch all the live updates on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill here.
The decision to vote in favour of the citizenship bill was taken in the interest of the nation and the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) agreed by the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress is applicable in Maharashtra, Sena MP Arvind Sawant said.
“It (voting in the favour) is in the interest of the nation,” said Sawant.
The Shiv Sena on Monday raised concerns over certain aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) bill but backed the government for its passage in Lok Sabha and even voted in its favour.
The Indian Railways announced that eight trains and eight trains have been short-terminated have been cancelled to Assam’s Tinsukia due to indefinite 'Rail Roko' by various organisations and associations.
Agitators participating in a bandh called by NESO against the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha set a market, where shops were owned mostly by non-tribals, on fire in Tripura's Dhalai district on Tuesday, police said.
However, no one was injured in the incident and the blaze at Manughat market was doused, a senior police officer said.
The government of Tripura suspended mobile internet and SMS services in the state for 48 hours, following reports of clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Shiv Sena for not supporting the Citizenship Amendment, calling it the politics of “opportunism.”
RJ(D) leader Tejashwi Yadav said that his party will oppose the CAB and said that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is “afraid of the BJP and RSS.”
Despite protests from Prashant Kishor and Pavan Varma, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) will vote in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Rajya Sabha, taking the same stand that it took in Lok Sabha, reported CNN-News18.
Speaking on the Citizenship Bill on Tuesday, EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto said that the principle of equality has been enshrined in the Indian Constitution and expressed hope that it will be upheld.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday 10 December, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 an “attack on the Indian Constitution,” a day after the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday took to Twitter to slam the Modi government over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, saying it is “part of the RSS ‘Hindu Rashtra’ design of expansionism propagated by the fascist Modi government.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday and is likely to be introduced on Wednesday, media reports indicated hours after it cleared the Lok Sabha test.
The All Assam Students’ Union held a protest in Assam’s Dibrugarh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed in Lok Sabha at midnight on Tuesday.
Protests also took place at Jorabat.
Pakistan has condemned the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that was passed in the Lok Sabha at midnight on Monday saying it is “premised on a falsehood and is in complete violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants on elimination of all forms of discrimination based on religion or belief.”
“The latest legislation is another major step towards the realization of the concept of ‘Hindu Rashtra,’ idealised and relentlessly pursued by the right-wing Hindu leaders for several decades. It is driven by a toxic mix of an extremist ‘Hindutva’ ideology and hegemonic ambitions in the region. It is also a clear manifestation of interference in the internal matters of neighboring countries based on religion, which we reject completely,” the country’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
The 11-hour Northeast bandh called by an umbrella body of students' organisations of the region to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill began at 5 am on Tuesday.
The North East Students' Organisation (NESO), backed by various other bodies and political parties, will observe the shutdown till 4 pm against the Bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday and passed around midnight.
Security was beefed up in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.
Lok Sabha session will now resume at 11:00 am in the morning.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs to be present in the House on 10 and 11 December.
After the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 was passed in Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “I extend my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making the historic Citizenship Amendment Bill a reality, that will allow India to open its doors to minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who are facing religious persecution,” reported ANI.
After more than ten hours of debate, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 was passed in Lok Sabha with 311’ Ayes’ and 80 ‘Noes.’
Voting on amendments in Citizenship Bill is underway in Lok Sabha.
As the extensive debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 continues, Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Whole of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are protected by the Inner Line Permit (ILP), they have nothing to worry about. All of Nagaland, except a small part of Dimapur is also protected by Inner Line Permit, they too have nothing to worry.”
Home Minister Amit Shah said that people are asking why Muslims are not included in the Bill.
Replying to this, he said that the minorities for which CAB will be implemented hail from places where Muslims are not in minority. Hence, stating that the Bill is not “anti-Muslim” in nature.
According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till 31 December 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
Shah added, “Modi government's only religion is Constitution.”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha said, “There is a difference between a refugee and an infiltrator. Those who come here due to persecution, to save their religion and the honour of the women of their family, they are refugees and those who come here illegally are infiltrators.”
“Rohingyas will not be accepted in India, I want to clear this once again,” he added.
Shah further said, “Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is ours, the people there are also ours. Even today, we have reserved 24 seats for them in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly,” reported ANI.
Home Minister Amit Shah, responding to Congress leader Manish Tewari’s said that the Citizenship Amendment Bill was “not unconstitutional and it did not violate Article 14.”
Nama Nageswara Rao of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, and said, “It is not in line with our secular party policy. We strictly follow the provisions and spirit of Indian Constitution.”
Describing the Citizenship (Ammendment) Bill and NRC as ploys to divert attention from "failures" of the Modi government, CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar slammed the Centre on Monday, saying it is trying to change the Constitution.
Kumar, who was in the city to address a rally against the National Register of Citizens (NRC), said people of the country should not cooperate with the Centre and "oppose their divisive policies".
"The NRC and CAB are against the basic principles of our constitution, where secularism has been enshrined. The BJP government is trying to change our Constitution," he said.
"If the people of this country launch non-cooperation, then it would be tough for BJP to run the government," Kumar added.
BSP’s Afzal Ansari said, “The National President of BSP, Mayawati ji had earlier only stated that the Citizenship Amendment Bill is unconstitutional and opposed it. Today as well, we stand here against the bill.”
JDU’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh said, “We support this bill. This bill should not been seen in light of Indian citizens, both majority and minority.”
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee said that his party's idea of India was "inclusive" unlike the ruling party's idea of a "divisive" nation.
"Our India smiles. Your idea of India is based on mob lynching. Let me tell you whatever may happen there wouldn't be any NRC in West Bengal," Banerjee said.
DMK member Dayanidhi Maran claimed the government has not taken a single step to win the hearts of minorities and the bill was against the spirit of India's age-old ethos of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (world is a family).
"You are preoccupied with Pakistan," he said, and added that Amit Shah has failed to realise that he is the Home Minister of entire India and not just of North India.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday launched a blistering attack on the Union government in Lok Sabha over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, saying it was aimed at making Muslims "stateless" and will lead to another partition.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Owaisi said he was called Mahatma after he tore the discriminatory citizenship card in South Africa, and the Hyderabad MP then ripped the copy of the bill to highlight his protest, inviting sharp reactions from the treasury benches which described his act an "insult" to Parliament.
"The bill is against the Constitution.... It is a conspiracy to make Muslims stateless," Owaisi said, questioning the government as to why it had not included countries like China, which occupies parts of India and other countries.
Surpriya Sule of NCP said the perception is that every Muslim is feeling insecured and the second largest minority community should not be felt left out.
Referring to DMK MP K Kanimozhi, Sule also asked, "What happens to those who practise atheism?"
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is not only for Assam but for the entire country and a section is maligning image of the state by spreading misinformation about the bill.
He stressed on discussions and deliberations with the public to remove any doubts regarding the bill.
Sonowal urged the BJP workers to stay vigilant and check the spread of misinformation.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) urged the government to include sects from the Muslim community, who are facing persecution in neighbouring countries, in the Citizenship Amendment Bill as it will send a positive signal.
Participating in the debate on the bill, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party supports the bill as it will hugely benefit Sikhs facing persecution in Pakistan.
Manish Tewari, Congress MP in Lok Sabha, countered Amit Shah’s claim that Congress partitioned India and said, “Today Home Minister said that Congress is responsible for partition on basis of religion. I want to make it clear that the foundation for two nation theory was laid in 1935 in Ahmedabad by Savarkar in a Hindu Mahasabha session and not by Congress.”
Trying to allay apprehensions of people of the Northeast, Amit Shah informed that Manipur will be brought under Inner Line Permit regime, and therefore will be exempted from the proposed legislation.
Shah said as per the bill, it will not be applicable to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and in the areas covered under The Inner Line, notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Currently, the ILP regime is applicable in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament, the party's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said as he claimed that the proposed law is BJP's attempt to end democracy in India.
Expressing the AAP's opposition to the bill, Singh claimed that the legislation is BJP's attempt to end democracy in India.
"CAB is being opposed from Assam to Tamil Nadu. AAP will oppose it," he said.
AAP has four MPs in Parliament – three in Rajya Sabha and one in Lok Sabha.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave a clarion call to oppose NRC and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and said not a single citizen of the country will be allowed to turn a refugee.
Giving assurances that NRC and CAB will be never allowed in Bengal as long as the TMC is in power, Banerjee said NRC and CAB are both two sides of a coin.
"There is no need to worry about NRC and CAB. We will never ever allow it in Bengal. They can't just throw out a legal citizen of this country or turn him/her a refugee," Banerjee said while addressing a victory rally at Kharagpur- where her party TMC won the recent bypolls.
The Lower House of Parliament voted to formally introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 with 293 'Ayes' as against 82 'Noes'.
Defending the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha said, “Why do we need this Bill today? After independence, if Congress had not done partition on the basis on religion,then, today we would have not needed this Bill. Congress did partition on the basis of religion.”
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla expunged AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s remark comparing Home Minister Amit Shah to Hitler. In a live telecast on Lok Sabha TV, Owaisi was heard comparing the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to the Nuremberg race laws and Israel's citizenship act. He said that if the Bill is passed, then the home minister’s name will be featured alongside Hitler and David Ben-Gurion.
Opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in Lok Sabha said, “It's nothing but a targeted legislation against minorities of our country."
Responding to him, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said: "This Bill is not even .001% against minorities in the country.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to give Indian nationality to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan facing religious persecution there, was introduced in Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, 9 December.
According to the proposed legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
Samajwadi Party chief and MP from UP's Azamgarh Akhilesh Yadav said in Parliament on Monday: "We are against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 and the party will oppose it at all costs.”
Shops have been closed in Guwahati following shutdown call by various organisations opposing the Citisenship Amendment Bill.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday, 12 December, submitted a notice in the Lok Sabha to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill at the introduction stage on the grounds that it "violates" the fundamental right to equality.
Tharoor submitted the notice this morning under Rule 72 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha.
The Bill violates the Fundamental Right to Equality prescribed by Article 14 since it infringes upon the principle of "equality before law" and the "equal protection of laws" guaranteed to all persons, including non-citizens,Tharoor said in his notice.
After Shiv Sena’s editorial mouthpiece Saamana strongly opposed the Citizenship Bill, party leader Sanjay Raut tweeted, “Illegal Intruders should be thrown out . immigrant Hindus must be given citizenship,but @AmitShah let's give rest to allegations of creating vote bank & not give them voting rights,what say?”
The Shiv Sena has questioned whether "selective acceptance" of Hindu illegal immigrants will act as a trigger for a religious war in the country and accused the Centre of apparently doing an "invisible partition" of Hindus and Muslims over the bill.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party also said "vote bank politics" under the garb of the bill (CAB) is not in the interest of the country.
In an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena also raised the timing of the bill saying, "There is no dearth of problems in India now but still we are inviting new ones such as CAB. It looks like the Centre has made an invisible partition of Hindus and Muslims over the bill".
Ahead of the Citizenship Bill debate in Parliament, Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted against it saying, "CAB is a cab ride with a divisive driver to, destabilise, destroy our polity values both societal and constitutional with an eye only on political dividends.”
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP PK Kunhalikutty has given Adjournment Motion Notice in Lok Sabha opposing introduction of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019.
The government is implementing Jinnah's two-nation theory through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and India should not become like Pakistan, the CPI(M) said on Sunday while opposing the legislation.
Asserting that India believes in the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), the party's general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the CPI(M) will move two amendments on the proposed law when it is introduced in Parliament.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Yechury said India is a home equally for all religions and that people of all religions must get equal treatment. The party will move amendments seeking deletion of all the clauses which specify religion as the basis of giving citizenship, he said.
“No slide into narrow and dark sectarianism like this can be allowed. We strongly oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which gives citizenship on the basis of religion, that also to people from three countries,” added Yechury, reported PTI.
The passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament will mark the definitive victory of Mohammed Ali Jinnah's thinking over that of Mahatma Gandhi's, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday, asserting that the exercise of granting citizenship on the basis of religion will reduce India to a “Hindutva version of Pakistan.”
The former Union minister also alleged that the BJP government wants to single out “one community” and refuses to grant its members asylum from oppression on the same conditions as other communities.
In an interview to PTI, Tharoor said even if the bill is passed by both the Houses of Parliament, he is confident that no bench of the Supreme Court will allow such a “blatant violation” of the fundamental tenets of India's Constitution to go unchecked.
Supporting the movement, spearheaded by the Manipur People Against CAB (Manpac), protesters came out in large numbers in many areas of the city on Sunday while women vendors of a temporary market in Imphal staged a sit-in against the proposed legislation.
The women vendors of the Panthoibi temporary market at Khwairamban Keithel stopped their daily work and joined the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, a market committee official said.
The city police dismantled the 'shamiyana' (tent), set up by the women agitators and dispersed them to stop their movement, a senior officer said.
Convenor of Manpac, Yumnamcha Dilip said that people would continue to oppose the contentious bill, reported PTI.
BJP has issued a three-line whip to all its MPs to attend the Parliament from Monday through Wednesday, reported CNN-News18.
Left parties have decided to move amendments to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The two amendments would seek deletion of reference to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and religions in the Bill, and bring under its ambit refugees from all neighbouring countries, as per IANS.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said that the Congress “will oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill tooth and nail because it is in violation of our Constitution, secular ethos, tradition, culture and civilisation.”
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had also convened a Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group Meeting at her residence at 10 Janpath over the Bill. Apart from Chowdhury, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Whip in Lok Sabha Kodikunnil Suresh and Whip Gaurav Gogoi, among others, attended the meeting, reported PTI.
As many as 16 left-leaning organisations have called for a 12-hour Assam bandh on December 10 to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019.
The North East Students' Organisation (NESO) has already called for an 11-hour North East bandh from 5 am on 10 December for the same.
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and its sister organisations have extended their support to the bandh, called by these organisations and the North East students' body, KMSS Adviser Akhil Gogoi said at a press conference on 8 December.
Endorsing NESO's decision to observe a bandh in the Northeastern states on 10 December to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU), on Sunday, appealed to the people of the state to support the agitation, reports PTI.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, on Sunday, hailed the NDA government's decision to introduce the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament, saying a long-overdue demand of the party has been accepted. The party, however, said the Bill should cover all persecuted people, irrespective of religion.
It said, keeping in view the country's socialist, secular and democratic credentials as well as humanitarian principles, Muslims should not be excluded from the Bill on the basis of religion, reports PTI.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, has been a contentious piece of legislation, with its imminent introduction in Parliament sparking protests on 8 December. Protests against the Bill took place in Bangalore, Guwahati and Imphal over the weekend.
All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) held a torch rally in Guwahati to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Earlier, Yogendra Yadav spoke to The Quint about the Citizenship Amendment Bill at a similar protest in Delhi, calling it “against the very idea of India.”
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Published: 08 Dec 2019,09:19 PM IST