Assam, Bengal ire at citizenship bill....Govt to grant citizenship to Hindu minority refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, TT, New Delhi, Oct. 25: Asom Gana Parishad, the BJP's ally in Assam, and several ethnic organisations in the state today opposed the Narendra Modi government's decision to grant citizenship to Hindu minority refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Bengal government too condemned the Centre's move to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, saying granting citizenship to hundreds of Hindu refugees would threaten "the very foundation of the secular fabric of India".

The Parishad and over 20 ethnic organisations today submitted a memorandum to the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) and said the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was bound to create constitutional problems.

The memorandum also pointed out that the bill contradicts the Assam Accord of 1985, which says illegal migrants who entered Assam from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971, should be deported.

"We examined all the memorandums from the stakeholders, mostly from Assam and Bengal. Many of them are opposed to the changes to the Citizenship Act of 1955," a JPC member said.

The JPC has 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

Another JPC member said the members of the Parishad and the All Assam Students' Union had threatened to launch an agitation against the Centre's move.

Sources said the JPC members were planning to visit Assam and Bengal and hold meetings with the stakeholders. They are likely to send a report to Parliament before the winter session, which begins on November 16.

In July, a cabinet committee chaired by the Prime Minister had approved the amendments to the Citizenship Rules, as promised by the BJP in its 2014 general election manifesto. The 2016 bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

The amendments allow "persecuted" minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who are living in India on long-term visas to take up employment, buy property, open bank accounts and secure driving licences, PAN cards and Aadhaar cards.

The proposed bill also promises to waive the penalty for delayed applications for extension of the refugees' short-term or long-term visas. The registration fee for citizenship will be reduced to Rs 100 from Rs 3,000-15,000, the bill says.

As part of the amendments, district magistrates and collectors of 20 districts in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Assam will be allowed to register refugees in their areas for two years.

Trinamul MP Saugata Roy, who is a member of the JPC, said: "The proposed bill smacks of discrimination as it lists only non-Muslim minorities from three countries. It does not talk about Muslim refugees who have fled Myanmar because of prosecution. This is in complete violation of the spirit of religious rights of the minorities guaranteed in our Constitution."

Roy, who attended the meeting today, said the Bengal government would oppose the bill tooth and nail in Parliament.