What actually is CAB, Citizenship Amendment Bill?
The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019, seeks to give citizenship rights to non-muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Bill seeks to amend the definition of illegal immigrants for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from these three countries who have lived in India without documentation.
The Bill has already been passed in Lower house of Parliament, though a lot of hue and cry was made by the opposition parties and social activists over its passage. If the bill is successfully passed in the Rajya Sabha, it will fast track the citizenship process as the duration will be reduced from 11 years to just six years.
Debates over the introduction of this Bill are making rounds on social media as few say it is against the interest of the minority Muslim community. However, Bhartiya Janta Party is firm on its stand as it maintains that its part of the party manifesto.
Does BJP have the required numbers for the successful passage of CAB in the Upper House?
Based on the stand taken by various parties in Lok Sabha, it appears that the ruling party will have a narrow lead in Rajya Sabha. The parties which are likely to support BJP and their respective strength in the upper house goes like this: BJP (83), AIADMK (11), JD-U (6), SAD (3), AGP (1), BPF (1), LJP (1), PMK (1), RPI (1), Nominated (3), Independents (4).
The sum totals to 115, which suggests BJP will secure the support of these political parties in the Rajya Sabha.
With 5 seats lying vacant, the strength of the house is 240 and thus the halfway mark is 120.
Parties opposing the Bill :
UPA: Congress (46), DMK (5), IUML (1), Kerala Congress (1), NCP (4), RJD (4), MDMK (1), Nominated (1). Total: 63
Non-UPA parties opposing the Bill: TMC (13), SP (9), TRS (6), CPM (5), CPI (1), BSP (4), AAP (3), PDP (2). Total: 43
Thus, parties opposing the Bill have 106 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. Besides, two Independent MPs – MP Veerendra Kumar and Ritabrata Banerjee – are also more likely to go against the Bill. This takes the number of those opposing the Bill to 108, which is 12 less than the halfway mark.
Background
The bill was first time introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016, and it was then referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The committee submitted its report on 7 January 2019 and on the next day i.e. January 8, 2019 the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.
Is CAB applicable to the entire country?
CAB would not apply to areas under the sixth schedule of the Constitution – which deals with autonomous tribal-dominated regions in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. States having an inner-line permit regime (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram) will also be the exceptions.
How is CAB different from NRC?
The National Register of Citizens or NRC that we saw in Assam targeted illegal immigrants. A person had to prove that either they or their ancestors were in Assam on or before March 24, 1971.
NRC however, is not based on religion, unlike CAB. So, the basic difference between these two is, while the CAB includes an additional clause of religion, the latter does not discriminate on the basis of religion.
Why is there such an uproar over the CAB?
The opposition has continuously been saying that the Bill seeks to establish Muslims as second-class citizens. The BJP has also come under severe criticism for doing “politics of appeasement”. Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the fact, that this bill will no doubt benefit BJP, as it will help them increase their vote bank which includes radical Hindu groups. Passage of CAB is like a poll tactic, BJP has been indulging in to lure the Hindu voters.
How BJP is defending itself on this issue?
Amit Shah said, Citizenship amendment bill has the endorsement of crores of Indians, as it was the part of the party manifesto in 2014 as well as 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The public gave its mandate to BJP in both parliamentary elections based on these poll promises. So, in a way BJP is doing nothing wrong if it is representing the hopes and aspirations of crores of its citizens.
The Indian constitution clearly mentions that amendments can be made depending on the need of the hour and if they are in the greater interest of the public.
This is not the first time that any Govt is amending a Bill, the same has happened several times earlier and barely such fuss was created. Because our Constitution is flexible changes can be made to it as per the ‘Constitutional Amendment Act’ and its provisions.
Moreover, those hailing the CAB, state that one should not always go by the Hindu-Muslim debate. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, does not snatch away the rights but it gives citizenship rights to those who are devoid of it.
West Bengal politics and Bangladeshi refugees.
West Bengal Chief Minister has always stood against BJP over both NRC and CBA. However, it is believed that that the successful implementation of the bill will brighten the saffron party’s future in Bengal.
BJP intends to include at least 10 million Hindu Bangladeshi refugees to its list if this bill is passed. This will also help BJP build a pro-Bengali image which is very much required to win the upcoming state assembly elections.
Given all this, though a part of the CAB says it’s a good step done with a motive to resolve the issue of refugee crisis, however the partial of it is untrue. This is because the bill divides the people along religious lines. The Govt has time and again suggested that only non-muslims will be covered under this act, which in turn has made the whole bill discriminatory. Discrimination on the basis of religion, that too in a democratic country such as India, is unjustified. India is a secular country, as prescribed in our constitution and it is thus the responsibility of the current Govt that it sticks to its principals and does not violate our constitution in any form. Human beings are human beings, they all are equal, we should never forget that religion is something which we human beings have created for our convenience and to fulfill self interests.