There is no political agenda behind Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: Amit Shah
New Delhi/IBNS: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday participated in a debate related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 and said there is no political agenda behind it.
"There is no political agenda behind it," Shah said in the Lok Sabha.
"This bill does not aim to create discrimination," he said.
"I believe every political party must fight elections on its manifesto, which is built by the opinion of the people of the country, and not on some leader or family. This is what has happened here. This Bill was in BJP's manifesto for 2014 & 2019 elections," he said.
Shah said the bill will do justice to people.
"I want to assure this House that this Bill will only bring justice to the people who have been waiting for it for 70 years. It is not targeting anyone and will do no injustice," he said.
"In this Bill, we're protecting the social and linguistic uniqueness of the North East people. Nobody needs to fear it," he said.
Shah on Monday tabled the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha.
The introduction of the bill led to a chaos after Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called the bill opposed to the minority community.
"It is a regressive legislation which targets the minority community," Adhir said.
The draft legislation proposes Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Muslim major neighbouring nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The bill proposes to gives Indian citizenship to people belonging to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christian communities if they entered India from the three nations on or before December 31, 2014.
North-eastern student organisations, civil society groups and opposition parties have been opposing the government over their move.
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