In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi flayed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as part of Sangh Parivar's move to build a nation based on religion.
"The Constitution of India guarantees the right to citizenship for all Indians; irrespective of their religion, caste, language, culture, gender or profession. This very right is being made void by the Citizenship Amendment Bill. A move to decide citizenship on the basis of religion amounts to a rejection of the Constitution. The is an exercise to divide people on communal lines," the statement says.
Pinarayi said that the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with extraordinary haste. "The bill, which aims to enervate our secular unity, was passed by the Lok Sabha with an unusual haste and tenacity," he said.
The CM has demanded that the clauses surrounding religion must be withdrawn. "Muslims who have immigrated from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan are being excluded. The discrimination on the basis of religion, and preferential granting of rights, is a denial of natural justice. The bill mentions that people belonging to six religious groups, from three neighboring countries, can be granted citizenship. These two clauses must be withdrawn. It is not unknown to the Sangh Parivar that India houses refugees from Sri Lanka, in addition to the three mentioned countries," the statement said.
He urged citizens and others to not allow the Bill to become a law. "The amendment bill serves the communal policies of the Sangh Parivar and their devious plans to establish a non-secular state. The articles of the Constitution that relates to citizenship and fundamental rights are being violated here. India belongs to Indians of all kinds. Efforts to undermine this fact will only take our country backward. It will destroy our hard-fought freedom. We must not let that happen," he said.
The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha after a lengthy debate on Monday.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 enables illegal migrants, or those who have overstayed their visas, who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from three countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — to apply for Indian citizenship. The Bill has exempted certain areas in the North-East from this provision — the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. The applicant should have entered India on or before December 31, 2014, to be eligible for citizenship.