Amit Shah at his best in passing #CABBILL: Here are his 15 major points recreating history

1. Indian Muslims are citizens of the country and will remain so. Citizenship of Indian Muslims is not being taken away. "Citizenship bill is not to snatch anyone's Indian citizenship. Muslims have no need to fear or worry," Amit Shah said.

2. The Bill has been brought to rectify a historic blunder ‘the Partition’ and give a dignified life to non-Muslims of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who fled religious persecution and settled in India before 31 December, 2014.

 

3. Giving a befitting reply to oppositions questions on Muslims being left out, Shah said Muslims from other countries have the right to apply for Indian citizenship as per existing rules. As many as 566 Muslims have been given citizenship. Muslims have not been included for giving citizenship because the proposed law is for persecuted minorities in the three countries, he said.

4. Dr. Manmohan Singh also said earlier in this House that the minorities there are facing persecution in countries like Bangladesh. The situation forces them to migrate, so it is our moral responsibility to give citizenship to those unfortunate people.

5. Highlighting the Nehru-Liaquat agreement, he said both sides agreed that the people of minority societies would be given equality like the majority. India kept its promise and minorities were protected and promoted. But our 3 neighbouring countries did not keep the promise.

6. Amit Shah attacked opposition the Congress saying statements by the party's leaders match those of Pakistani leaders on not just the citizenship bill but also on scrapping of Article 370.

7. Asserting that neither the citizenship bill, nor the previously passed legislation making practice of triple talaq punishable and the scrapping Article 370 are anti-Muslim, he said the present legislation is to give citizenship and does not to take away citizenship of anyone.

 

8. Amit Shah said the bill seeks to correct the wrong done by the partition of the country on religious lines. Attacking Congress for alleged double speak on the issue, he said that the party had during its rule given Indian citizenship to 13,000 Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan without raising a word about the same for other communities.

9. Amit Shah also said the bill does not violate Article 14 of the Constitution as it does not prohibit laws based on reasonable classification.

10. On why persecuted minorities from countries such as Sri Lanka were not part of the legislation, Amit Shah said Tamils from the island country had been given Indian citizenship in past and the present law is to tackle a specific problem.

11. For the Northeastern states, Shah asserted that Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and now the whole of Manipur have also been notified in Schedule 6, taking forward the protection given in all the states of North East, this bill will not apply to the tribal areas.

 

12. Hitting out at Kapil Sibal, Shah said the Congress leader should not teach him the idea of India. "My seven generations have been born here. I have not come from abroad. We were born here, we shall die here. Don't teach us the idea of India," he said.

 

13. Rebutting the charge that Muslims were living in fear, he said India not only fulfilled its promise of protecting minorities, Muslims have gone on to become President, Vice President and Election Commissioner in the country.

14. The final budget of the Congress government in 2013-14 was Rs 3,500 crore for the welfare of minorities. In Narendra Modi's government, Rs 4,700 crore was given in 2019-20. The President of our country can hold a minority in high positions like the Vice President.

 

15. Minorities in other nations are living in hell, in torture. The politicians here are in greed of power and are giving  a blind eye, deaf ear to the atrocities of minorities. Modi government has brought this bill only and only to give justice to those unheard minorities.