‘CAB An Attempt To Ethnically Cleanse Northeast’: Rahul Gandhi Starts Fearmongering Ahead Of Bill’s Introduction In RS

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (11 December) called the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 "an attempt by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah government to "ethnically cleanse the Northeast", calling it a "criminal attack" on the people.

"The CAB is an attempt by Modi-Shah govt to ethnically cleanse the North East. It is a criminal attack on the North East, their way of life and the idea of India. I stand in solidarity with the people of the North East and am at their service (sic.)," Gandhi tweeted.

On Tuesday (10 December), Gandhi described the Bill that seeks to provide refuge to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains fleeing religious persecution from the officially Islamic Pakistan and Afghanistan and Muslim-majority Bangladesh -- as an attack on the Constitution and said that anyone who supports the Bill is attempting to destroy the foundation of India.

The Bill was tabled for discussion in the Lok Sabha on Monday (9 December) by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and was passed late on Monday night.

The opposition parties had objected its nature and described it "against Muslim community", which the government rejected saying it does not affect the community residing in the country.

The Bill will be debated upon in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (11 December).

The criticism by former Congress chief comes despite the fact that Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier made it clear that the bill would not affect Indian Muslims or the people of the Northeastern states.

The only scope of the bill is to aid persecuted minority refugees (worded as illegal immigrants in the bill) who are living in India for years and have not been able to become official citizens.

Home Minister Amit Shah had assuaged fears of North East residents by assuring that their indigenous rights would be taken care of. He had added that apart from two provinces in Assam and Manipur, no other area would come under the ambit of CAB.

(With inputs from IANS)