by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
A Lokmat Exclusive report
BJP may dump Citizenship Bill
Centre calls meeting of North-East CM s on Feb 11
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Feb 7
The BJP leadership seem to have decided buy peace in North East and all set to dump the controversial Citizenship Bill pending for passage in the Rajya Sabha.
The U-turn came today when the Modi government decided to hold a meeting of Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states on Monday. The Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, has called the meeting of North East CM s to find if there is any meeting ground. The Citizenship Bill has not been listed in the Rajya Sabha though parliament session began on January 31. The session is ending on February 13 and no bill will be taken up on the last day. A final decision will be taken on February 11 after the CM s' meeting. It simply means that there is only day February 12 when the bill can be passed. But considering the stiff opposition to the bill by almost all North Eastern states, there is every likelihood that the bill is buried.
Until the other day, the BJP leadership including the PM and party president Amit Shah were saying that the party will go ahead with the bill. But today, a high-level meeting of party leaders including top leaders from North east met Rajnath Singh and decided that CM s be invited to take a final call.
It must be borne in mind that the Rajya Sabha is yet to discuss the President’s address, interim budget presentation and three ordinances, including one on Triple Talaq, the Companies (Amendment) Bill and the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill.
Though the Lok Sabha passed Citizenship Bill amid protests, all the seven states of North East states are up in arm against it. The BJP leadership has been told that there are 25 Lok Sabha seats which are at stake and it would be better that a reasonable assurance is given by the Centre on the issue.
The Bill seeks to give citizenship to non-Muslims from 3 countries, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Assam has been simmering over the past few days ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the proposal of the bringing the Citizenship Bill at a rally in the northeast state.
Ends
