Shiv Sena Monkey Balances On Citizenship Amendment Bill: Announces Support But Says Give No Voting Rights

A move that may embarrass the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra, the Sena have decided to back the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which the Congress brands as "unconstitutional".

On Monday (9 December), Shiv Sena's face in the Parliament Sanjay Raut took to Twitter to announce the same.

He said: "Illegal Intruders should be thrown out." But to balance its support for a Bill that the entire opposition has come together to object to, Raut added: "Immigrant Hindus must be given citizenship, but Amit Shah, let's give rest to allegations of creating vote bank & not give them voting rights, what say? And yes what about pandits? have they gone back to Kashmir after Article 370 was removed?"

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is all set to move the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill on Monday, in the Lok Sabha. The matter is listed in the day's business for the lower house.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, has already faced cold vibes from opposition with the Congress calling it "unconstitutional".

Minority outfits too have lashed out against the Bill for leaving out Muslims and also on the ground that it is at odds with the Constitution, which does not differentiate between citizens on the basis of religion.

CPI-M held a press conference on Sunday to announce that they will move two amendments to the proposed Bill.

Meanwhile, the BJP has issued a 3-line whip to all its members of parliament (MPs) to attend the session from December 9-11 to "support Government stand" on a slew of bills that the treasury bench is slated to move.

(With Inputs from IANS)