Citizenship Amendment Bill will make India Israel: Asaduddin Owaisi

AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said here on Wednesday that the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) if implemented "will make India Israel," which is known for "discrimination."

"The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in itself shows that they want to make India a religious country," Owaisi told ANI. "India will be in the league of Israel which is the most discriminatory country in the world," he added.

"If the media reports are correct that the North-Eastern states will be exempted from the proposed CAB law, then it will be a grave violation of Article 14 related to fundamental rights as you cannot have two laws on citizenship in this country," he said.

"It will give citizenship on the basis of religion, which is against the principles of our Constitution," he said.

"Bringing CAB will be a dishonour to our freedom fighters because you will be reviving the two-nation theory. As an Indian Muslim, I rejected MA Jinnah's theory. Now you are making a law wherein, unfortunately, you will be reminding the nation of the two-nation theory," he added

The CAB was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. It seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh if they faced persecution in their countries.

The contentious Bill is set to be tabled next week in Parliament in the current Winter Session.