The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
During the discussion on this bill, 48 members spoke in either in favor or opposition to this bill. After this, at around 10 pm, Home Minister Amit Shah started answering all the questions. He gave his speech for over an hour.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that today is the day to end the torture of millions of refugees who are living the life of hell.
According to the 2016 report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are over two lakh refugees in India.
These include refugees from Tibet, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Somalia. In 2015, 39 Syrian refugees also visited India.
However, the new citizenship bill only talks about giving citizenship in India to minority communities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. These minorities include Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis.
Afghanistan-Pakistan-Bangladesh are Muslim nations?
Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha that the religion of these state has been considered Islam in the constitution of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Due to this, the hope of getting justice for the minorities decreases there.
He said that Bangladesh was considered a secular nation in the Constitution in 1971 but after that in 1977 the religion of the state was considered Islam.
Professor Sanjay Bhardwaj in South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University says that there is no doubt that these three are Muslim nations but Bangladesh considers itself secular despite being Muslim.
He says, “Bangladesh is the softest of these three nations, but in the constitution of this country, Islam was added in 1977 by removing the word secular. In 2011, the court ordered that the soul of the 1971 Constitution be preserved.” after which secularism was added to it again, but it considered itself as an Islamic nation.
How many minorities in Pakistan-Bangladesh?
Home Minister Amit Shah said that in 1950 there was a Nehru-Liaquat agreement in Delhi and under that agreement it was decided that India and Pakistan would take care of their minorities. Pakistan had assured India that it would take care of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Zoroastrians.
He then said that in 1947, the number of minorities in Pakistan was 23 percent and in 2011 it was reduced to 3.7 percent.
Amit Shah said that in 1947, the number of minorities in Bangladesh was 22 percent and in 2011 it came down to 7.8 percent while Bangladesh was formed in 1971, it was East Pakistan between 1947 and 1971.
Professor Sanjay Bhardwaj says that Home Minister Amit Shah may have given this figure either in a hurry or in total, but during the entire journey from 1947 to 1971 there was only 15% minority in East Pakistan, even after Bangladesh was formed this number was reduced and in 1991 only 10 percent minority remained there whereas in 2011 only 8 percent minority was left.
He said that the number of minorities has now reached one percent in Pakistan.
Professor Bhardwaj says that the minority community in Bangladesh does not have development problems as compared to Pakistan because they have been part of the landlord and business community there since the British era, even after partition their economic condition did not decrease but face political problems with them. They are definitely discriminated against in employment, security and politics.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that in India, 84 percent were Hindus in 1951 and in 2011 they came down to 79 percent, while the number of majority has increased in the rest of the countries.
He also pointed the number of Muslims in India. Amit Shah said that in 1951, the number of Muslims in India was 9.8 percent and today the number of Muslims is 14.23 percent.
According to the 2011 census of the Home Minister, this was absolutely correct.
Who is a refugee or intruder?
Home Minister Amit Shah repeated the same thing several times during the discussion in the House. He said that he who has been persecuted in his country and who has come to India to save his religion and the honor of women, is a refugee and who has entered the country illegally without permission is an intruder.
Why Muslims are not included in this bill? Home Minister Amit Shah also answered this question.
He said, “Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are not a minority in those countries, so this provision is not being made for them. Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar come to India and Myanmar is a secular country. Rohingya Muslims will never be accepted.”
The Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are a minority in that country and the news of atrocities on them is not hidden. Around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims are currently taking refuge in India, so why are they being called intruders?
On this question, Professor Bhardwaj says that Rohingya Muslims are refugees only because they have endured atrocities in their country.
According to the UN refugee agency, a refugee is a person who had to flee their country due to persecution, war or violence, the refugees fear that they will be oppressed due to race, religion, political opinion or any social group.
Is the citizenship bill a constitutional violation?
During the discussion, several MPs, including Congress MP Manish Tiwari, had cited the Bill as unconstitutional, citing Article 14. On this, Home Minister Amit Shah had said that this bill is not non-constitutional in any way and it does not violate Article 14, it is right from the point of view of the Constitution.
He said, “The right to equality is given in Article 14, there is a provision for proper classification and there is no bar from making the law, Article-14 says that Parliament can not make a law which does not have the right to equality.” but this has not happened for any one religion. If we had done it for only one religion, Article-14 would have come in the way. “
Faizan Mustafa, vice chancellor and law expert at Nalsar Law University, says that this bill does not meet all the criteria of Article 14. On the inclusion of many religions of Amit Shah, he says that in this bill, one religion has been left which is against the right to equality.
He says, “Article 14 describe that India will treat the citizens as equal to the law and shall have the same law for all. In this, equal understanding of the law means that a person should not be given special facilities. For all Equal law means that all laws are equal for all. The Supreme Court has said that you can make laws for any class. In the Chiranjit Rao case, the Supreme Court has said that you can make the law for anyone even an individual if he is a class in itself”
“The constitution does not allow laws to be made according to religion, caste, place of birth but this bill makes this provision based on religion. I understand that this law does not meet the test of Article 14. It does not include all the neighboring countries. Myanmar, China, and Sri Lanka are not included in this. The classifications made in this law are not rational. “
Home Minister Amit Shah argued during his speech that if such laws cannot be made on the basis of Article-14, then how is the law made for minority educational institutions.
On this, Faizan Mustafa says that it is stated in the misconception that minority educational institutions have been created under Article-14, these institutions have been created under Article-30.
He says, “Under Article 30, minorities living in India have set up educational institutions. No such rights have been given to foreign minorities. If a Brahmin from Uttar Pradesh wants to open a Hindi institute in Tamil Nadu, then he is a minority and Institute can be opened. “