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Armed with a favourable report of the Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) on the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, the BJP cleared the Bill for introduction in Parliament on Tuesday. Aiming to placate over an estimated 15 lakh Bangladeshi Hindus excluded from the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) —establishing their citizenship in Assam—the BJP apparently let its alliance partner, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), walk-out of the coalition on Monday.
Speaking to BusinessLine , a top Union Minister said, “If India isn’t a country for Hindus, where else will they go?” The AGP, which grew out of the Assam agitation based on Assamese sub-nationalism and opposition to outsiders, including Bangladeshi Hindus, chose to walk out of the NDA the same day.
Meeting with Home Minister
The AGP’s decision followed a meeting of the party brass with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who asserted that the Government will ensure its passage in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. “We made a last ditch attempt on Monday to convince the Centre not to pass the Bill. But Singh told us clearly that it will be passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. After this, there is no question of remaining in the alliance,” said AGP President Atul Bora after meeting the Home Minister.
JPC report
The JPC headed by the BJP legislator from Meerut, Rajendra Agrawal, submitted its report on Monday, paving the way for the introduction of the Bill.
“The committee has disagreed with the suggestion from some quarters that Bangladesh be kept out of the purview of the proposed amendments as the government, by amending the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950, and the Foreigners Order, 1948, through notification dated September 7, 2015, has regularised the entry and stay of persons belonging to six minority groups — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh in India… If Bangladesh is kept out of the purview, such migrants who do not have all or any of the travel documents or whose travel documents have expired, shall continue to remain ‘illegal immigrants’ under Section 2 of the Principal Act and shall not be eligible to apply for Indian citizenship, thus negating the very reasons of bringing the Bill,” said the report.
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