Rajya Sabha Oppn leaders hold meeting to strategise on Citizenship Bill

Several Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha led by the Congress held a meeting on Thursday to firm up their strategy on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is likely to be tabled in Lok Sabha next week, sources said on Thursday. The meeting of senior Rajya Sabha members of Opposition parties such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M) was held in Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad's chamber.

Congress sources said party chief Sonia Gandhi will discuss with senior party leaders the party's strategy on the bill, and will also hold discussions with like-minded parties over the next few days. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the party will oppose the bill aimed at providing citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

"Congress party is against any form of discrimination against anybody in this country. So anybody who discriminates against anybody who is Indian, we are against them. That is our line. We believe that India belongs to everybody -- all communities, all religions, all cultures," Gandhi told reporters in Kozhikode. AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh alleged that the CAB is an attempt of the BJP to hide its sin of National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"NRC is a very big failure of the BJP in which 11 lakh Hindus, nearly 3 lakh people from UP and Bihar and 3 lakh Muslims have been excluded. So in our own country these people have been made foreigners and they will be kept in detention centres," he claimed. "It is a conspiracy to target people from UP, Bihar specially in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi. It is their (BJP) mega plan and CAB is just a drama to shoo away people of Bihar and UP from other states," claimed Singh, who attended the meeting in Azad's chamber.

Notwithstanding stiff opposition, the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is likely to be introduced in Lok Sabha on December 9 and will be taken up for discussion and passage the next day. The government on Thursday informed leaders of different parties at the Business Advisory Committee that it will put the bill for discussion in Lower House on Tuesday.

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