US body's view on Shah attack on our sovereignty: BJP MP in Lok Sabha

A BJP member in Lok Sabha on Wednesday slammed a federal US commission's call for sanctions against Home Minister Amit Shah over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as an attack on India's sovereignty and asked all parties to come together to send a "stern message" against this. Raising the issue a day after a federal US commission on international religious freedom sought sanctions against Shah and other principal Indian leadership if the bill with the "religious criterion" is passed by Parliament, Nishikant Dubey said the matter was not about one party.

The home minister is working for the country's unity, security, and integrity, and the US committee's move is an attack on our sovereignty, he said. Dubey said opposition parties can come to power in the future and the matter is not about one party.

India had dismissed the commission's view, saying the American body has no locus standi. According to the proposed legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB was passed in the Lok Sabha with 311 members favoring it and 80 votings against it a little past midnight on Monday. On Wednesday, it was tabled in the Rajya Sabha for its nod.