While the BJP-led central government has been fighting to get the Citizenship Amendment Bill enacted in India, opposition parties such as Congress, Trinamool, DMK, Samajwadi Party, RJD and the Left have been against the passing of the bill.
The Indian National Congress (INC) has been at the forefront of the brigade standing against the bill. Several Congress leaders have come out and criticised the bill in the parliament, at press conferences and social media.
Rahul Gandhi had voiced his opinion on CAB while in Calicut, he had said that the bill is a “violation” of the idea of India.
However, in an interesting throwback, a Twitter user has reminded the people of India of Congress’ take on the citizenship bill back in 2003.
Senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh while speaking in Rajya Sabha had called for the granting of Indian citizenship to refugees entering India. He had expressed concern over the treatment of minorities in neighbouring countries, especially mentioning Bangladesh.
BJP senior leader LK Advani had also agreed with Singh back then.
The current amendment of the Indian Citizenship Act promotes the granting of citizenship based on religion to non-muslim refugees facing prosecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The bill has exclusively mentioned six religious minorities, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, in neighbouring nations that can obtain Indian citizenship.
The bill was approved in Lok Sabha earlier in 2019 and recently the Union cabinet has also approved the bill. The Citizenship amendment bill is a part of BJP’s pre-poll promises. The BJP has been pushing the passing of the bill for a long time now.
