Rajya Sabha adjourned without CAB being tabled
Source: The Sangai Express

New Delhi, February 12 2019: Contrary to earlier apprehensions the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha today amid protests in the North East with the Upper House being adjourned till February 13 .

The Bill was to be moved by Home Minister Rajnath Singh today.

The said Bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha on January 8 and if cleared in Rajya Sabha, it will become a law.

The Bill seeks to grant Nationality to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains from the neighbouring countries, but not Muslims.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will grant Nationality to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains but not Muslims who fled from the three neighbouring countries from religious persecution and entered India before December 31, 2014 .

This has led to widespread protests in Assam, Manipur and the other North Eastern States which have raised strong objections about discriminating against immigrants and said that no infiltrator, irrespective of their religion, should be given citizenship rights.

The protesters say the Bill, which seeks to allow citizenship to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who came to the State after March 1971, is a violation of the Assam Accord, 1985.Meanwhile Chief Minister N Biren who is presently in Delhi on being summoned by the Centre yesterday, said that it is unlikely the Bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow.

The Chief Minister said that during the meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu yesterday, he made it amply clear that the situation in Manipur can get very restive if the Bill is passed and enacted.

Stating that he was summoned to Delhi yesterday since the Union Home Minister wanted a detailed report of the situation in Manipur, the Chief Minister said that Rajnath had also assured him that the Centre would not do anything that can hurt the interests of the North East.

Stating that another Chief Minister from the North East has been regularly going to Delhi and reaching out to all other political parties to stand against the said Bill, Biren said that given this reality it is unlikely that the Bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow.

Tomorrow a motion to hail the President's address has been lined up as well as other businesses, so it is unlikely that there will be time to table the Bill, added the Chief Minister.

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