BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 faced strong resistance from the opposition political parties during its introduction in Lok Sabha, the BJD supported the contentious legislation with some riders.
The BJD support is expected to make the passage of the Bill easier in the Rajya Sabha.
The BJD demanded that Sri Lanka should be included in the list of countries from where refugees would be allowed as Hindus and Muslims are being persecuted in that country for decades.
Announcing the BJD stand vis-a-vis the Bill, party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra said Hindus and Muslims from Sri Lanka should not be deprived of this opportunity.
Stating that the CAB should not be linked with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) which is a different subject altogether, Patra said there is need for a greater discussion on this.
The Centre should, however, take steps to clear the doubt among the Muslims who have been kept out of the purview of the Bill.
The Centre should also dispel the impression which is being created by some political parties that the Bill is against a particular religion.
BJD extends support to Citizen Bill
Stating that there should not be any attempt to politicise the Bill, Patra called upon the opposition parties who are opposed to the Bill to support it in national interest.
Under the Citizenship Act, 1955, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India for the last 12 months, as well as for 11 of the previous 14 years.
The amendment relaxes the second requirement from 11 years to 6 years as a specific condition for applicants belonging to these six religions, and the aforementioned three countries, he said and a lot of people will be benefited from this.
The Bill seeks to amend The Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship of India.