NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DEC 13
President of India Ram Nath Kovind gave his nod for the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) on Thursday day. The bill becomes the Act now and it is effective from December 11.
A gazette notification was issued at 11.01 p.m. on Thursday night, a day after the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha amidst opposition.
The Act was passed in both the Houses of Parliament for giving Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Earlier on Wednesday, the bill was passed after the Home Minister Amit Shah’s reply after the marathon debate for over six hours.
The bill was passed to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities in the three countries and not take away citizenship of anyone.
He rejected the Opposition charge that the Bill was against Muslims and said they have nothing to fear. The Bill was passed with 125 votes in favour and 105 against it. Besides BJP, its allies such as JD-U and SAD, the legislation was supported by AIADMK, BJD, TDP and YSR-Congress.
Earlier the House rejected motions to send the bill to a select committee of the House with 124 members voting against it as compared to 99 in its favour. The House also rejected several amendments moved by opposition members to the bill, most by voice vote. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday.
On why persecuted minorities from countries such as Sri Lanka were not part of the legislation, Shah said Tamils from the island country had been given Indian citizenship in past and the present law is to tackle a specific problem.
Shah also said the Bill does not violate Article 14 of the Constitution as it does not prohibit laws based on reasonable classification. Muslims have not been included for giving citizenship because the proposed law is for persecuted minorities in the three countries.
