MUMBAI: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is "anti-Constitutional" and the BJP-led Union government is pushing it only for political benefits, Nationalist Congress Party chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said here on Monday.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB)seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there.
The bill to amend the six-decade-old Citizenship Act was introduced in Parliament on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, Malik said, "NCP's official stand on CAB is that it is anti-Constitutional and BJP is trying to reap political benefits from it."
"We are going to oppose the CAB in Parliament. As the NRC (National Register of Citizens) was implemented haphazardly in Assam, the BJP has come up with CAB to offer citizenship to certain communities, except Muslims. We are against it," Malik said.
Malik alleged the CAB was aimed at regularising the 16 lakh Hindus who were omitted from NRC (in Assam).
The BJP had been campaigning in Assam that the problem of migrants there was mainly due to Muslims, but its claim fell flat with the NRC findings, Malik claimed.
"If you include Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure as prime minister to the current one, the BJP has been in power for some 12 years. We want to know how many illegal immigrants the BJP-led government has deported so far," he asked.
He said the BJP's plans to have the NRC exercise nationwide would be "a bigger blunder than demonetisation".