IT News
Imphal, Jan 13,
A statement issued by M Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the General Secratary of Popular Front of India, has said that the new Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passed by Lok Sabha is expression of the communal bigotry of the central government and asked all non-BJP members of Rajya Sabha to prevent it from becoming a law.
“The bill is openly discriminatory to Muslims and against the basic principles of the constitution. It allows migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian religious communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan to gain permanent citizenship in India, while excluding Muslims, a major religious community in above listed countries. It is shameful and outright injustice that religion is made a major factor for the conferral of citizenship in our country. As we had earlier pointed out, the government is bound to explain what makes these select religious communities from the listed countries exclusively deserving of the privilege of our citizenship while other minorities in many other countries are subjected to persecution and human rights violations of the worst kind. Thus it goes against the constitutional principles of human rights, especially the principle of equality before law”, the statement said.
Terming it as another politically motivated and communally divisive move from the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha election. Mr Jinnah appealed all opposition parties to come forward to expose the agenda behind the bill and defeat it in the Rajya Sabha. He also asked civil society organisations to raise their voice against the bill.