Congress Members of Parliament (MP) from northeast and Naga People’s Front MPs protested against the Citizenship Amendment Bill on Friday. The parliamentarians, holding placards stood in front of the Mahatama Gandhi statue in the parliament to register their protest over the bill. They also raised slogans against the bill and demanded that it should be scrapped. On Thursday, MLAs of opposition parties had staged a walkout on the first day of the winter session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, demanding for a cancellation of the question hour and holding a discussion on Citizenship Amendment Bill and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Earlier on Wednesday, Home Minister Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha that the Citizenship Amendment Bill is needed so that Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Parsi refugees, who are being discriminated on basis of religion in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan, obtain Indian citizenship. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8 this year, aims at granting citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
