Citizenship Amendment Bill should be redone: JD(U)

JD(U) has asked the union government to prepare the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) afresh and take all concerned into confidence before bringing it to the parliament.

New Delhi: Demanding that the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) should be prepared afresh before being put in Parliament once again, the JD(U) on Thursday said it should be sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee before any deliberations on it in the House.

"The JD(U) would be happy if the bill is sent to the JPC. We hope that the government would take everyone concerned into confidence, especially the people of North Eastern states," JD(U)'s general secretary and national spokesperson KC Tyagi told reporters here.

People from North-Eastern states of the country should be able to save their identity, he said.

"I hope that good sense will prevail and the government will take everyone into confidence on the issue," he added.

"Various organisations have been opposing the CAB in Assam and the Northeast. People there feel that this bill challenges their fundamental rights. So we hope that the government will take all stakeholders into confidence before bringing it into the Parliament," he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently held discussion over the issue with the all Chief Ministers of northeastern states.

JD(U) raised the point concerning the CAB earlier also. The BJP-led NDA government had got the contentious bill passed by the Lok Sabha but due to the strong opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the bill could not be passed there.

The CAB intends to give citizenship status to six religious communities including Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afganistan who have illegally migrated into India due to religious prosecution.

Talking about the National Register of Citizen (NRC) issue, Tyagi said that his party will take a call once the initiative takes a formal shape.

"There is no notification from the government side over pan India NRC. Once we get a formal communication over the matter, we will take a call," said Tyagi.