Citizenship Bill To Be Presented In Rajya Sabha Today; Protest In North-Eastern States

New Delhi: The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which aims at providing Indian citizenship minority groups from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha today by Home Minister Rajnath Singh amid widescale protests by North-eastern states.

Widespread protests have erupted in the northeast states after the government passed the Bill, which seeks to provide Indian nationality to non-Muslims who migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Section 144 has been imposed in Imphal and all internet services were suspended on Monday night, as massive protests jolt the Manipur capital.

The BJP-led Central Government has gone ahead with the bill despite its ally in Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad, pulling out of the NDA in protest and several others threatening to do so. On Monday, Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu and Manipur CM Biren Dingh, also voiced their opposition to the controversial bill to Rajnath Singh.

The opposition has lashed out at the BJP and claimed that the saffron party is hoping to make big electoral gains in West Bengal by using the bill to consolidate the Hindu vote in its favor.

However, PM Modi has defended the bill saying that it is an “atonement of the wrong that was done during India’s Partition. India will safeguard all who had been victims of the Partition”.

Addressing a rally in Assam on Saturday, Modi said the citizenship bill won’t harm the interests of the people of the North-east but will help those who have “embraced the idea and ethos of Mother India”.

The Union government is trying to push the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill through the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the penultimate day of last parliament session before the Lok Sabha elections. But it is likely to be met with protests by the opposition.

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