Modi muted on citizen bill .....PM BROACHES SUBJECT AT END OF SPEECH

DEVADEEP PUROHIT, TT, 03 Feb 2019, Thakurnagar (North 24-Parganas): The stage was set, the audience was ready but the Prime Minister appeared not so keen.

Narendra Modi on Saturday adopted a toned-down approach on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, broaching it briefly towards the end as he addressed an event here of the Matua community, which enthusiastically supports the proposed legislation.

Modi's caginess on the bill, which seeks to facilitate citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, could be a result of the resistance it faces in the Northeast where the BJP is eyeing gains in the general election, BJP sources suggested.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party opposes the bill because it discriminates between immigrants on religious grounds, had on Monday stolen a march on the BJP by giving freehold land rights to residents of 94 refugee colonies in the state irrespective of faith.