Citizenship Bill cleared by Cabinet; to be tabled within a week in Parliament

Guwahati, December 4, 2019:

According the various media reports, the contentious Citizenship Bill will be tabled in the Lok Sabha on December 9, whereas the Bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 10.

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It has been reported that the Union Cabinet has already cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that it will be passed at any cost, no matter the consequences.

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'Raksha Mantri' Rajnath Singh, expressing the necessity to enact the Bill, has stated that it is as important as the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir.

However, the Central Government's "resolve" to pass the contentious Bill has been met with widespread protests across the Northeast Indian states, due to the ever-lingering fear of a 'Bangladeshi invasion'. Many student bodies and civil society organizations have been staging protests against the Bill, non-stop.

The indigenous organizations have also alleged that the enactment of this Bill will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.

Opposition parties such as the Congress have also raised their voices against the Bill. Speaking to mediapersons from the Parliament grounds, Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Ripun Bora has warned that the Bill will be a "curse" for the people belonging to the Northeast Indian states.

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