Hours ahead of the tabling of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Opposition of speaking Pakistan's language on the legislation, PTI reported.
Speaking during a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentary party meet held at the Parliament complex on Wednesday morning, Modi compared the bill to the government's decision to nullify Article 370 and said it will provide permanent relief to minorities of neighbouring countries who arrived in India fleeing religious persecution.
The prime minister said that the legislation will be written in "golden letters" in history. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday, with 311 votes in its favour and 80 votes against it. It seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains and Parsis who migrated to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before 31 Dcember, 2014.
With a current strength of 240, the majority mark in the Upper House is 121. BJP has 83 MPs in the Rajya Sabha andalso has the support of parties like AIADMK and Shiromani Akali Dal. BJP’s former ally Shiv Sena, which had backed the Bill in Lok Sabha, said it would withdraw the support in the Rajya Sabha if its queries are not addressed by the government. The Sena has three MPs in the Upper House.
During the parliamentary party meet, Modi also asked party MPs to gather feedback from all sections of society — from farmers to the poor and industrialists — on the coming Union Budget and share the inputs with the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
With inputs from PTI
December 11, 2019 at 11:52AM
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