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Why Should You Favor OR Oppose The Citizenship Amendment Bill? Here’s All You Need To Know!

A lot of conjecture has been floating in the air, a hell lot of war has been fought on Social Media and the country seems to have been divided over the issue that has been raging all over since last week!

NDA government tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 and along with it, brought the nationwide mayhem.
FYI, the bill has been passed in the Loksabha with 311 votes in favour opposed to 80 votes. The bill would be tabled in Rajyasabha today for approval.

CAB-2019-Rajya-sabha

Via: www.tv9bharatvarsh.com

What Is CAB 2019?

CAB is basically an amendment bill to citizenship criterion of India. Now before we go into details of what provisions does CAB give, it’s important to know the criterion of citizenship in India.

According to Article 5:

If you, or your parents or any of your grandparents are born in India, you’re a citizen of India (irrespective of religion).

According to Article 6:

If you’ve migrated from Pakistan to India, then for you to be a citizen of India, the following criterion should be met-

(a) you or either of your parents or any of your grandparents was born in India (Article 5)

(b) if you migrated before or on 19th of July 1948

Again, irrespective of religion.

According to Article 9:

If you’ve voluntarily taken citizenship of a foreign state, you’re no longer a citizen of India. ( Note- Not even by virtue of Article 5 or Article 6)

Now that you have a rough idea of Indian citizenship, here’s what the amendment brings to it.

“According to the bill, illegal immigrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014, will be relaxed the requirement of residence in India for citizenship from 11 years to 5 years.”

CAB 2019

Via: The Pioneer

Where Do Muslim Immigrants Stand On This?

In short, non-Muslim people who were “forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion” will be granted Indian citizenship provided they entered India on or before 31st December 2014.
As far as the Muslim immigrants are concerned, they’d have to complete the criteria of 11 years of residence in India to be eligible for citizenship.

Why Is The Bill Opposed?

CAB 2019

Via: Northeast Now

People are opposing the bill on the basis of a lot of arguments like:

According to Article 14, citizenship cannot be awarded on the basis of religion, and that’s exactly what the bill does

The bill will validate Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s two-nation theory, that Muslims and Hindus need to be organized into separate countries.

The bill legally discriminates people facing ‘religious persecution’ on the basis of religion

The bill blurs the line defining the difference between India and Pakistan with former being a constitutional republic and latter being a theocracy

The bill implicates the notion of India being the natural home for non-Muslims of South-Asian region, which sends a rather negative message to country’s 200 million Muslims

Why Is The Bill Favoured?

protest-against-Citizenship-Amendment-Bill

Via: LatestLY

Since every coin has two faces, a large number of people are in support of the bill as well, basing their claims on the following arguments:

The bill does not violate Article 14 as citizenship is only prioritized on the basis of religion, not awarded i.e. even the Muslim immigrants will be awarded citizenship, just that they’d have to complete the necessary criteria

The bill does not coincide with Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s ideology as India is not closing their doors to Muslims. Just that, the bill tends to entertain non-Muslims first because they’re in dire need of so

Muslims do not face ‘religious persecution’ in Islam dominant countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan & Bangladesh), non-Muslims do. Also, illegal Muslim immigrants (from Islam dominant countries) are fighting for a better life (which they get in India), whereas non-Muslim immigrants (from Islam dominant countries) are FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIFE!
How’s prioritising them wrong under such conditions?

Hindus are brutally oppressed in Pakistan, while Muslims in India lead a comfortable life exercising equality in all domains. So there’s still a very bold line defining differences between India and Pakistan and the bill does no harm to that

The bill is for people who are facing ‘religious persecution’. Muslims do not face ‘religious persecution’ in Islam dominant countries, non-Muslims do. And anyway, all Muslims who were born in India are citizens (by virtue of Article 5)
Also, Muslims can still apply for Indian citizenship, through legal processes.

A lot has been said and deliberated over the issue it doesn’t seem to cool down any soon.
Now that the bill was scheduled to be tabled in Rajyasabha today, the whole nation is glued to their television screens to see how it goes given that the ruling party does not have the majority in Rajyasabha!

Also, a severe blow hit them today when their recently separated long-term ally Shiv-Sena decided to vote in opposition of the bill in Rajya sabha after voting in favour of it in Loksabha.

-uddhav-thackeray

Via: Zee News

Anyway, I’ve laid down the arguments of both sides, decide for yourself which side you’re on!

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