Citizenship Bill Against Spirit Of Constitution, Says Scindia

Indore: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) was against the spirit of the Constitution and also India's centuries-old philosophy of treating the world as one family, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday.

Criticising the Modi government for bringing the legislation, he said not only the Congress but several other parties were opposed to the bill which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution.

The architect of our Constitution Babasaheb Ambedkar had said people living in India should be looked at as citizens without taking into consideration their caste or religion.

"Taking this into account, the CAB was against the basic spirit of the Constitution given that Indian citizens had never been viewed with lens of their faith, the former Union Minister told reporters here.

He said the bill was against India's centuries-old thought of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the world is one family) where all had been embraced always.

Not only the Congress, many more political parties are averse to it. People have taken to the streets in protest against the bill in north-eastern states and also other parts of the country, the former Lok Sabha MP from Guna said.

Asked about the urea shortage in Madhya Pradesh, he said, We have raised this issue with the central government, but unfortunately, it is not helping out the state.

When our Congress government (the previous UPA regime) was at the Centre, it used to provide adequate urea to states, Scindia added.

(PTI)