Give Citizenship Bill to immigrants, but no voting rights for 25 years: Shiv Sena
On the day when the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that his party supports Bill the but with certain conditions. He suggested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to revoke voting rights of new citizens for the next 25 years. "The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is needed because the Sikh, Hindus in the neighbouring countries are troubled. But Amit Shah had said that all infiltrators will be thrown out from the country, we want the number of immigrants removed in the last six months," news agency ANI quoted Raut as saying.
He further said, "Some are also alleging that BJP is introducing the CAB to create a vote-bank for themselves. Even the BJP-ruled states in the North-east are protesting against this, so give them citizenship but do not grant them voting rights for the next 25 years."
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, has already faced cold vibes from opposition with the Congress calling it "unconstitutional".
Minority outfits too have lashed out against the Bill for leaving out Muslims and also on the ground that it is at odds with the Constitution, which does not differentiate between citizens on the basis of religion.
CPI-M held a press conference on Sunday to announce that they will move two amendments to the proposed Bill.
Meanwhile, the BJP has issued a 3-line whip to all its members of parliament (MPs) to attend the session from December 9-11 to "support Government stand" on a slew of bills that the treasury bench is slated to move.
