"A landmark day for India and our nation’s ethos of compassion and brotherhood!" tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 passed in Rajya Sabha.
"Glad that the #CAB2019 has been passed in the #RajyaSabha. Gratitude to all the MPs who voted in favour of the Bill. This Bill will alleviate the suffering of many who faced persecution for years," he wrote.
125 Rajya Sabha members voted in favour of the Bill while 105 voted against the Bill.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
Opposition parties including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK protested against the bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday with a majority of 311 votes against 80 in the Lower House where 391 members were present and voted.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday condemned the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill saying that it marks the "victory of narrow-minded and bigoted forces over India's pluralism." "Today marks a dark day in the constitutional history of India. The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill marks the victory of narrow-minded and bigoted forces over India's pluralism," she said in a statement.
She stressed that the Bill fundamentally challenges the idea of India that our forefathers fought for and, in its place, creates a disturbed, distorted and divided India where religion will become a determinant of nationhood.
