RAJYA SABHA ______SYNOPSIS OF DEBATE ______(Proceedings other than Questions and Answers) ______Wednesday, December 11, 2019 / Agrahayana 20, 1941 (Saka) ______MATTER RAISED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE CHAIR Need to Resolve the Kuki-Zomi-Jmar and Bodo Problems SHRI BISWAJIT DAIMARY: Adivasis in Manipur have a number of problems. There has been no development in the hilly region of the outer Manipur. The government should take responsibility of undertaking development works here. The National Commission reviewed the Indian Constitution in the year 2002 and has submitted a report with regard to including this region in the Sixth Schedule. The Manipur state government has also stated that it has no objection in this. I plead that their problem should be addressed at the earliest. ______GOVERNMENT BILL The Citizenship Amendment (Bill), 2019 THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI AMIT SHAH) moving the motion for consideration of the Bill, said: After partition, we thought that minorities in our country and
______This Synopsis is not an authoritative record of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha. 537 neighbouring countries would be able to live a respectable life with civil rights. They will be able to protect their religion, traditions and the honour of the women of the family. Minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh have no protection there. They do not have the right to equality. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, the population of minorities has decreased by about 20 per cent. Minorities coming to India should have got protection here. They did not get citizenship, job, education etc. facilities here. This Bill has been brought to give the right of citizenship to all such ill-treated people who have come to India by tolerating harassment on the basis of religion. In a democratic system, the people vote for a party based on the manifesto of the parties. We had clearly written in our manifesto that we will implement the Citizenship Amendment Bill for the protection of the religious minorities who are ill-treated in the neighbouring countries. We reiterate our commitment to the linguistic, cultural and social security of the people of the North Eastern States. We will also address their concerns. Today we are going to give our both declarations legal form. We have brought amendments in the process of making religious minorities of our three neighbouring countries by protecting them and making them citizens. We will give citizenship to Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Parsi and Hindu minorities who have come here after Independence from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Do not worry about the Muslims of this country because they are citizens and no one can harass them. Do you want us to make Muslims coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan citizens. This Bill provides for citizenship only to the minorities of those three countries. They too have the right to live. This is the Narendra Modi government and is running with the spirit of the Constitution. Minorities will be provided full security. In this Bill, Section 2 (1) (b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 provides that migrants who come to India without passports, visas and travel documents, or whose passports and visas expire are considered illegal immigrants. We have brought improvement in it. Now the six sections of these three countries - Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian - will not be considered illegal migrants. It also proposes to introduce new section 6 (b) of the Citizenship Act. According to this, if the said victims of
538 religious persecution register on the basis of the prescribed conditions, then they will be able to take citizenship of India. If such migrants obtain citizenship after fulfilling the conditions of Section 5 or third Schedule of the Citizenship Act, 1955, they will be granted citizenship from the date on which they have arrived in India. If any case is going on against such minority migrant about illegal migration or citizenship, then that case will end there with special provision of this Bill. This section also provides that if the applicant is receiving any kind of right or privilege, then that right and privilege will not be denied under this provision. Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and now entire Manipur have also been notified under Schedule-6. This Bill will not apply to the tribal areas. The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 by the then Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi. There was a provision inside its Clause-6 that through it the Government of India would set up a committee to look at all the things here so that the natives of Assam can make their identity. But from 1985 till now, that committee of Clause-6 has not been constituted. I want to assure all the original residents of Assam that the NDA government will take care of all your interests through the committee of Clause-6. This committee also includes the partners of AASU and Assam Gana Parishad. For the cultural development of the Bodo community, we set up the Bodo Museum, Center for Linguistics and Cultural Studies. Modernized the existing Doordarshan and All India Radio stations at Kokrajhar and a superfast train has been named as Aronai Express. I am willing to answer each of your questions. Shri K.K. Ragesh, Shri Husain Dalwai, Shri Binoy Viswam and Shri Elamaram Kareem moved an amendment for reference of the Bill to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha. SHRI ANAND SHARMA: The Hon'ble Home Minister has moved amendments to the Citizenship Bill. This Bill was also introduced in 2016. There is a lot of difference between that Bill and the present one. The changes made in this historic Bill need to be scrutinized. Instead of hurrying to get it passed, it should have been sent to the Parliamentary Committee so that the bill would have been passed in the next session. Although, the Government wants to get it
539 passed immediately. We oppose it not from political point of view but for constitutional and moral reasons. It is an assault on the fundamental values of the Indian Constitution and Republic of India. It is against the soul of India, democracy and the Constitution. The citizenship and the legal aspects thereof were widely discussed by the Constituent Assembly. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had made extensive contributions to the independence of India as well as towards the enactment of citizenship laws. Our erstwhile leaders had proper knowledge of the freedom, citizenship, and the anguish of the displaced and suffering people. The process of acquiring the naturalized citizenship has already been dwelt upon in our constitution. All the refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh got due respect and rights of citizenship as well as equality in our country. Dr. Manmohan Singh and I.K. Gujral belonged to this community and became the Prime Minister of India. The provision as claimed by current Government is already enshrined in our Constitution. After this, my colleague will make a mention about Article 6, Citizenship Act and Constitutional provisions. So far, nine amendments have been made to the Citizenship Act, 1955, without disturbing the basic spirit of the Constitution. The Indian National Congress and its leaders fought and sacrificed for the independence of the country. Today, they are being accused of partitioning the country. Doing so will prove to be a failed attempt to change history. The two-nation theory was not propounded by Congress. In fact, this idea was led by the Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Veer Savarkar respectively. Overall, our struggle was against the British government. You must also evaluate the role of the British. It was the British who in 1938 granted a veto power to Mohd. Ali Jinnah. The Congress opposed this and gave the slogan of 'Quit India' during World War II. The Congress party was declared an illegal organization and millions of its leaders and activists were jailed. The letter written by Lord Linlithgow vindicates this fact. Why no one mentioned the Indian Independence Act passed by the House of Commons in British Parliament. Do not do an injustice by blaming Congress. In the year 1943, Veer Savarkar himself supported the
540
Mohd. Ali Jinnah's 'Two-Nation Theory'. The Citizenship Act was amended nine times in view of the independence of Goa, Daman-Diu and Puducherry and their accession to India. Apart from this, citizenship was granted to the persons of Indian origin expelled from countries like Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is not fair to say that during the last 72 years, no Government has done any work for the welfare of the displaced and oppressed people. While amending the said Act, religion was never made the basis of citizenship as it is a violation of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. In other words, you cannot discriminate on the basis of religion, colour, caste or creed; and everyone has the right to equality and protection before the law. The centuries-old history is a testimony to the fact that all the oppressed, despised and humiliated people from around the world have found refuge in India. The 9/11 terrorist attack in America is widely discussed all over the world. Earlier, thousands of people were killed along with Salvador Allende, the famous leader of Chile in a military coup, in 1973. Thirdly, we got freedom as a result of the Satyagraha movement started in South Africa by Gandhiji replicated in India. Swami Vivekananda also happens to be our role model. At the World Religion Conference held in Chicago in the year 1893, Swami Vivekananda said that he was proud of the fact that he was from a country where all victims of atrocities from various religions and countries of the world have been given a shelter. We have granted refuge and honour to Jews and Zoroastrians. Nobody was discriminated against on the basis of religion. We ratified the Human Rights Convention in the United Nations on a priority basis. If the Government's claim is true, then the law should be made for refugees to rise above party politics so that a consensus can be arrived at. On the contrary, you have made a reference to the election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party and you want to act against the Constitution on the basis of the public mandate. Article No. 6 of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act provide for naturalized citizenship. But you have reduced the period of domicile specified in Schedule 3 from 11 years to 7 years. I would like to comment about NRC that your own colleagues coming from the state of Assam are opposing your law. They are not persecuted people. If your actions
541 are good then why the people are feeling insecure? The students are out their on the streets. Even during the regime of Smt. Indira Gandhi, a movement was launched by All Assam Students Union (AASU). Recently, a documentary was aired by BBC to highlight the plight of the refugees and illegal immigrants being held in detention centres across India. Such a situation reminds us of concentration camps set up by Nazi Government. Our great leaders like Sardar Patel or Gandhiji would have regretted to witness such a plight of humanity in India. I would quote the words of Mahatma Gandhi that our country must have and inclusive culture. Finally I would like to urge the Government that the Bill must be referred to parliamentary Standing Committee so that the genuine concerns of the people are promptly addressed.
SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA: Mr. Chairman, while supporting The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, I appreciate the will power of the Hon'ble Prime Minister and the Government of India. I would also like to congratulate the Hon'ble Home Minister who is the architect of this bill. He has paved the way for millions of refugees to lead a dignified life. Shri Anand Sharma's speech was extremely passionate and scholarly but far from the original subject. He spoke about Gandhiji and Savarkar but today the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is under discussion in the House. The main issue is that the minority people victims of religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan having taken a refugee in India should be given the right to citizenship. Dwelling on other aspects is likely to digress from the core issue. I would like to say that this problem arose due to the partition of the country on religious lines. Millions of people were massacred in that tragic partition. Law and order situation was very bad. People had to leave their homes and become refugees. Minorities were given protection in India but no protection was given to minorities in East and West Pakistan. When we talk of partition, we can say that at that time in India minorities included Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis. At that time in Pakistan minorities included Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis. We should be clear that 542
Hindus constituted the majority in India and Hindus were the minority in Pakistan. Muslims constituted the majority in Pakistan and minority in India. Keeping this in mind, the Nehru-Liaquat pact was signed. Under this agreement the rights of minorities at both places should have been protected. But this did not happen. The partition took place on religious basis and this pact remained on paper. Under our constitution, we made India a secular country, but Pakistan became an Islamic nation. We have been saying this since the days of the Jan Sangh. According to the 1970 resolution of the Jan Sangh, India has fully protected the minority Muslims and has given them equal rights. The rapidly growing population of Muslims in India is a testimony to the fact that according to the 1961 census their population was 5 crores, which has now increased to more than 6 crores. But the number of minorities in Pakistan has come down to only 90 lakhs. Minorities in Pakistan accounted for 23% in 1947 and in 2017 the minorities accounted for 2.3%. In 1951, minorities in India constituted 9.8 per cent, and in 2010 minorities in India constituted 14.23 per cent. Hence, minorities are flourishing here. I want to assure that the passage of this Bill will not affect the right to equality of any citizen of India. These hapless people have come to India after being religiously persecuted in Pakistan and they are living in Indore, at the border of Kutch and in West Bengal. But they do not enjoy any citizenship right. You should go there and see for yourselves their circumstances. Now I will talk about Afghanistan here. According to the reporting of the New York Times, The Guardian and The Reuters, the houses of worship and temples of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan have been destroyed. Their population now stands at less than 2000. They are persecuted on the grounds of religion and kidnapped for ransom and killed. I will lay all these reporting on the table of the House so that it becomes part of the House. I did not want to whip up passion, but I just wanted to present some facts about how the minorities in these countries have been treated. Earlier also, I have referred to the Article 14. Nobody's rights are being violated here. The Home Minister has held more than 100 hours of sessions in the Northeast. He has met more than 150 delegations and over 600 people. All issues have been sorted out. We should abandon the
543 interest of politics and take care of the interest of the country. You have attempted to spread confusion in the Northeast that their sanctity, their cultural identity and their existence will end. The Home Minister has replied in the Lok Sabha that everyone's identity, inner line permit etc. will remain intact and they will not be affected by the Schedule 6. Many times we forget how our party's stand has changed from time to time. I just want to say this because in the Rajya Sabha on December 18, 2003, Dr. Manmohan Singhji, while speaking on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, said that after the partition of the country, the minorities from countries like Bangladesh have faced persecution, and it is our moral obligation that if circumstances force people, these unfortunate people, to seek refuge in our country, our approach to granting citizenship to these unfortunate persons should be more liberal. Keeping this in mind, today we have brought this Bill. This Bill is not in the interest of any political party or any particular region. This is the call of the nation and this Bill is in the interest of this nation.
. SHRI DEREK O’BRIEN: December is an auspicious month for the Bengalis. In this month, Shahid Khudiram Bose and the brave revolutionary Bagha Jotin were born. On 8th December, 1930, Benoy-Badal-Dinesh attacked the Writers’ Building without caring for their own lives. But what did the government do at a solemn time like this? You have brought in an anti-Indian, anti- Bengali Bill. Everyone here established that this Bill is unconstitutional. It has been established beyond doubt. There is a view that the Bill from here will go to the Supreme Court and there will be people’s movement against this. And, the All India Trinamool Congress is used to this. We are moving from a democracy to a dictatorship. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I want to go back 84 years ago to two distinct laws that were passed in Nazi Germany. There is an eerie similarity between what we may pass today and those laws. In Nazi Germany, concentration camps were built, but detention camps have been made here in ______. Spoke in Bangla and English. 544 which sixty per cent of the people are Bengali Hindus. In Nazi Germany, the Reich Citizenship Law was enacted that protected those with German blood, but we have a faulty Citizenship Bill. We are criticizing it because they are trying to define who the true Indian citizens are. In Nazi Germany, there was a plan to deport the Jews and they called it the Madagascar Plan. But you have a Mahaplan, also known as the NRC. Moreover you are telling a big lie that India is under threat. The way a propaganda was being pushed against the Jews, the same way media is being pressurised to push the fake agenda. You say that infiltrators are coming and taking away your rights, but the truth is that in five years two crore people of India have lost their jobs. You cannot take care of those who are in the country, you cannot give them food and shelter. There is a link between the CAB and the NRC and they cannot be separated. We warned the Standing Committee four years ago. You could not run NRC in one State. If you extrapolate it on the nation, where are you going to end up 10 crore people. It did not work in one State. Pilot project did not work. Now I talk about some numbers from the Standing Committee. When the Director of Intelligence Bureau came before the Standing Committee, these are the numbers he gave. Buddhists -2, Parsis -2, Christians – 55, Sikhs – 5,000 and Hindus – 25,000. In total, the number is 31,000. You made some promises. You said that there was no cause of concern. But I tell you there is definitely a cause of concern. We all know what happened in demonetisation. During 2008-2014, 390 blasts took place in the country but in the last year 450 blasts took place in a year. Now, a gigantic target has been set for pushing the economy to 5 trillion Dollar. This Government is very good at making promises and this Government is even better at breaking promises. As per the Bill, you have laid down multiple grounds of citizenship for one country. I want to touch upon how you have treated the Hindus and how you have treated the Bengali Hindus. 60 per cent of the detention camps are of Bengali Hindus. Now, you will give me the argument that because they were excluded in the NRC, now you want to bring them back. However, when they apply to NRC, they will have to prove their Indian citizenship. One crore people came from East Pakistan. This was linguistic persecution in the
545
1970s. The Mathuaws have been voting and living in Bengal for the last 50 years. There is nothing new in this Bill. This is about perception. I appeal to the JD(U) and the BJD that today is the day for you to stand up and be counted. On a wintry evening of November 2016, you separated the poor people of this country from their money. Few months later, through a hasty GST, you separated businesses from profit. In August this year, you separated the people of Jammu & Kashmir from their State. With this Bill today, you want to separate genuine Indian citizens from their own homeland. It will not happen in Bengal. We will not let it happen anywhere in India. SHRI S.R. BALASUBRAMONIYAN: In this Bill it has been made clear as to who are entitled to be the citizens of India. People, who have entered India as migrants or refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan are entitled to become the citizens of India. At the same time, what is puzzling is that certain areas have been left out. For example, Sri Lankan refugees who came and have been living here for many years, are not entitled to become the citizens of this country. Some Bangladeshi people are in India and they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians and from other communities. I want to know this from the Government as to why their names have also been left out. They were against Pakistan, they were Muslims. There are thousands of people belonging to other communities also. I appeal to the Government to revisit and rethink it and add the names of Muslims also. We support the Bill. SHRI JAVED ALI KHAN: This is an important and very sensitive Bill. This Bill remains the subject of discussion across the country. The objectives and reasons of the Bill also stated that the constitutions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh provided for the state religion specified. Many individuals from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian and Christian communities have suffered atrocities on the basis of state religion in these countries. I want the assurance from the working president of the ruling party. If any party, organization, any person etc. in our country advocates making India a religion-based state, then it should be denied. The Citizenship Amendment Bill is a separate law. NRC is in the pipeline and it is the
546 intention of our government. I wished that these two subjects should have been separate. I do not believe that a nation can be formed on the basis of religion. I am saying with great sadness that Hindustan will be Muslim-free and Pakistan will be Hindu-free. After the coming of this NRC and Citizenship Amendment Bill, the government of our country is going to fulfill the dream of Jinnah. Today, our government talks about identifying people here in the name of Hindu, Muslim and giving them some help or help. I want to say to you that this situation is not very good in terms of law and constitution. The Preamble of the Constitution has been injured by this law. The Articles of the Constitution have been ignored. Its roots have been shaken and then it is said that this law has nothing to do with Muslims. This is not a new program. It is a very old program. People are asking for citizenship. Their number is 35 thousands. All the parties would have supported this bill if you had gone a bit back from fulfilling your political ambitions. If you incorporate two amendments i.e. instead of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, you write 'Neighboring Countries' and 'Religious Minorities' instead of Hindu, Sikh etc. Then this Bill would have been passed in a great way. SHRI RAM CHANDRA PRASAD SINGH: I support this Bill. This Bill is very clear. Religious minorities from our three neighbouring countries have taken refuge in our country due to persecution. In this, a provision has been made to give them citizenship. A lot of laws have been made in the country on the basis of Article 14 and this Bill has also been brought on this basis. Our party supports this. Our country is a republic. All the citizens of our country have equal rights. Everyone also has equal opportunities. In this country, three presidents were from the minority society and one became the Chief Justice also. I want to say again that there is no such thing in this Bill that will harm anyone. There are 130 crore people in this country, they are all Indians and everyone has equal rights. With these words, I conclude. DR. K. KESHAVA RAO: They can not break the Constitution. Because that is the structure. We have a Bill before us which is challenging the very idea of India. We cannot belittle the
547
Preamble. The Preamble is the very basis on which we have built the edifice. Today, this Bill has two faces. One is essentially Constitution and constitutional legality and the other is constitutional morality. This Bill negates every ideal of justice laid in the Constitution. I don't believe that this country was divided at all on religion. We are secular. We stand by the ideals on which we were born and on which we fought for our freedom. Pluralism is the keynote of Indian culture and laws are dependent on it. It is based on the belief that all religions are equally good and efficacious pathways to perfection or God- realisation. Now, we have a Bill here for citizenship. We oppose this Bill because it is marginalising the Muslims. It is anti-Muslims. Its lengthening shadows are on NRC. It will make somebody a citizen and somebody else a non-citizen. Government is dividing the migrants. A migrant, who is a Hindu, has all the relief from Government. If it is some Muslim, there is no relief from the Government. It is because they are coming from a State which is an Islamic State. This Bill should be withdrawn. SHRI T.K. RANGARAJAN: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is anti-Constitutional, illegal and immoral. On behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), I oppose the Bill tooth and nail. The CAB's stated objective - to give shelter and protection to persecuted minorities - is laudable. The text of the Bill, however, not only undermines that objective but also rends the plural fabric of the Indian Constitution. In its careful listing of protected communities, it explicitly and intentionally leave out Muslims. The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan has been subjected to continuous discrimination and violence. They have come here. Now, you also exclude them. My amendment in this Bill is for all neighbouring countries and there should not be any religion. This Bill is based on religion. This is clearly unconstitutional. By this Amendment, Parliament is compelling the state to do the same thing which is prohibited by the Constitution. Today in Pakistan there are certain number of Hindus. Bangladesh is the third largest Hindu living State, after India and Nepal. In Sri Lanka there is Hindus population also. If the Government make this a law, it should think of repercussions also. So, this is a very serious thing. 548
SHRI TIRUCHI SIVA: I strongly oppose this Bill. This Bill seeks to provide citizenship to some illegal migrants from three countries, that is, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Citizenship is a legal right for a person belonging to a particular country. In other words, citizenship bestows upon individuals, membership to a national, political community. It is against Article 14 of our Constitution, which ensures every citizen, equality before law, no one should be discriminated against. It is against secularism. In the Statement of Objects and Reasons, it says that millions of citizens of undivided India belonging to various faiths were staying in the said areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh when India was partitioned in 1947. Our founding fathers of constitution clearly said that India does not have a State religion because the doors are open to everyone, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. But, these three countries have their national religion. A sense of apprehension has cropped into millions of Muslims in our country. From Sri Lanka, more than a lakh of people have come here since 1948 because when the Citizenship Act was enacted, people were forced to come out. They were not able to enrol themselves as citizens. If this is passed by way of majority, that will be a blow to our secularism. When the Government has come forward to naturalise and give citizenship to some of those people, who have been persecuted in some countries, based on religion, let it not be confined to religion only.
* * * * * * * *
Desh Deepak Verma, Secretary-General. [email protected]
****Supplement covering rest of the proceedings is being issued separately.
549