Congress staged protest in Parliament against Citizenship Bill

January 7: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has become a bone of contention between the ruling BJP and many of the parties including the Congress. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee(APCC), President Ripun Bora, Congress MP Bhubaneswar Kalita along with the leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Ajay Singh today staged a protest infront of the parliament against the Centre’s proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The Congress leaders held placards and shouted slogans like “Save Assam, Save India”, “Stop Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016” marking a protest against the bill.

The demonstration was staged by the congress leaders before the start of the Parliament’s session on Monday. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was to submit its report on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha today. It may be mentioned that the state is witnessing an unprecedented series of protests after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government was working to ensure the proposed legislation gets Parliament nod. It was in this backdrop that the Congress leaders choose to held a demonstration early in the day in front of the Parliament.

Meanwhile, AIUDF too staged protest against the Citizenship Bill in the Parliament. AIUDF supremo Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal and its Karimganj MP Radheshyam Biswas also demonstrated against the bill with placard in their hands.

Barring a few minor changes, the JPC recommended for introduction of the original form of the proposed legislation, which seeks to grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities, other than Muslims in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 even if they don’t possess any proper document. This was an election promise of the BJP in 2014.