CAB — Violation of Articles 14 and 15 of Indian Constitution

Hyderabad, 11 December 2019: The India Greens Party (IGP) opposes the amendment in the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that was passed in the Lok Sabha on 9 December 2019 and appeals to the Rajya Sabha Members to not let this discriminatory Bill become a law.

It is a very unfortunate day in the history of the Indian Parliament as its Lower House passed such a discriminatory bill.

The IGP strongly feels that the amendment in the Citizenship Act is a violation of Article 14 (Right to equality) and Article 15 (Discrimination against religion) of our Constitution, which is secular in nature and encourages pluralism

Originally citizenship would be acquired by a foreigner who is ordinarily resident in India for 12 years and other qualifications as specified in section 6 (1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. But, the present government has added a religion clause to it by excluding the Muslims.

The party is against the concept of citizenship based on religion. It believes in religious pluralism and diversity.

The party hopes that the Supreme Court of India will strike down such discriminatory laws.

Also, it is regrettable that the Government of India is planning to implement the NRC across the country. The IGP is of the opinion that it would be another disaster like demonetization or even worse.

Such Acts would only degrade India’s global status.

It is also regrettable that the Modi-Shah regime has been trying to make amendments in the Constitution of the country that degrade the very nature of it, be it the amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 or the introduction of electoral bonds.