Rajnath Singh tables Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha

New Delhi, Jan 8 Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha even as Opposition parties including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress organized a walkout. The Union Minister said that the bill is imperative to shield the interests of the people.

"Assam's burden is the whole country's burden and all necessary steps will be taken to deal with illegal immigrants. It's not for Assam alone or for the betterment of migrants coming from a particular country. This Bill is also for migrants who have come from the Western borders and have settled down in Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi," the Home Minister said.

Rajnath also guaranteed that the government is submitted towards NRC and asserted that there will be no discrimination towards anyone. "All the necessary steps will be taken to deal with illegal migrants," he added.

He said they have an approval for a high-level committee which will hold discussions with all stakeholders before giving recommendations in six months.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 plans to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to those Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014.

There are protests being held crosswise over Assam with some agitators stripping in public against the controversial Bill. Indeed, even the BJP-backed Conrad Sangma government in Meghalaya said that it will adhere to its remain to oppose the controversial Bill.