Citizenship Amendment Bill: Indian Muslims Need Not Worry, Says Amit Shah - 10 Points

The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan was tabled in Rajya Sabha today. The bill has already been cleared by the Lok Sabha after a marathon 12-hour debate. Unlike Lok Sabha, the ruling NDA doesn’t have the majority in the Rajya Sabha, but the government was still confident of numbers. With a current strength of 240, the majority mark in the Rajya Sabha is 121. The BJP-led NDA has 116 members in the house and they would need the support of 5 more members. The Congress-led UPA, on the other hand, has 64 members. Other parties opposing the bill include the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Which makes the total number of MPs opposing the bill 110.

Below are the 10 points on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill:

1. Misinformation has been spread that this bill is against Muslims of India. I want to ask the people saying this that how is this bill related to Indian Muslims? They are Indian citizens and will always remain,no discrimination against them. No Muslim in India needs to worry due to this Bill. Don't get scared if someone tries to scare you. This is Narendra Modi's Govt working according to the Constitution, minorities will get full protection: Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha.
2. The BJP has 83 members in Rajya Sabha. BJP's allies AIADMK, JD(U) and Akali Dal have 11, six and three members respectively in the Upper House. Four independents and three nominated members besides a number of regional parties ( LJP, RPI-A, PMK, AGP, BPF and NPF) with one member each are expected to back the bill. Regional parties like the BJD with seven MPs, and YSR Congress and the TDP with 2 each are also backing the bill.
3. The opposition camp includes Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party, TRS, the Left, DMK, Bahujan Samaj Party, RJD and NCP with 46, 13, nine, six, six, five, four, four and four respectively. The support of PDP, KCM, IUML, MDMK, independents and nominated MPs takes their total to 105. The Aam Aadmi Party and JD(S) with three MPs and one MP respectively, are also expected to vote against the Bill.
4. Congress leader and MP from Kerala's Wayanad Rahul Gandhi termed the bill a "criminal attack" on North East and said that it was Modi's attempt to ethnically clean the region. "The CAB is a attempt by Modi-Shah Govt to ethnically cleanse the North East. It is a criminal attack on the North East, their way of life and the idea of India," Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
5. The United Nations on Wednesday said refused to comment on the bill but urged the government to peruse non-discriminatory laws. "We do not have a comment while the domestic legislative process is being carried out. At the same time, our concerns are only of being sure that all governments peruse non-discriminatory laws," Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Opposition of speaking Pakistan's language on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and asserted that the legislation will be written in "golden letters" in history. The prime minister made the remarks during the BJP parliamentary party meeting. He equated the bill to his government's decision to remove Article 370 provisions in Jammu and Kashmir.
7. After supporting the bill in the Lok Sabha, the Shiv Sena has taken a U-turn and said that it will vote in the favour of the bill in Rajya Sabha until the quesries raised by them are addressed. Speaking about it, Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, "Lok Sabha numbers are different and situation in Rajya Sabha is different. Government has to reply to our queries," Raut said.
8. The protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill intensified in various states of the NorthEast region with several reports of stone-pelting, arson and agitation coming from Assam, Tripura and Manipur on Tuesday. The Tripura administration shut down internet service for 48 hours in wake of protests against the against the bill.
9. Over 1,000 scientists and scholars have signed a petition demanding that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in its current form be withdrawn, with noted academician Pratap Bhanu Mehta saying the legislation will transform India into an "unconstitutional ethnocracy".
10. The Citizenship (Amendment) seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians fleeing persecution in Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. THe citizenship will be granted only to those non-Muslims who came to India till December 31 2014.