Citizenship Bill will not be passed: Yashwant Sinha

Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 will not be passed in the Rajya Sabha even as he insisted that the Modi government is not going to come to power for a second time.

The veteran politician, who quit the BJP last year, said this here while delivering a talk organised by a citizens' forum.

"Before coming here, I met lots of people. Except the BJP, all the people told me that they won't let the Bill pass in the Upper house at any cost. So, I don't think the government will dare to pass the Bill by force in the Rajya Sabha.

"Sometime they do it... In case of important bills, sometimes they are passed by voting amid ruckus in the House. But considering the importance of the Citizenship Bill, I don't think they will dare to pass the Bill amid ruckus," he said.

"The ongoing session of Parliament will be over in two days and this is the last Parliament session of this government.

"I would also like to tell you with confidence that this government is not coming to power for a second time. So there is nothing to worry. If there are still worries, please wait for two days, after February 13, we all can breathe easy," Sinha said.

He dubbed as "incorrect from all angles" the Bill which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to six minority groups from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"This Bill should not be passed because it is incorrect from all angles -- legal, constitutional, moral. And from the point of view of Assam Accord it is incorrect. This Bill is also against the ethos of the country. There is nothing like merit in this bill.

"The Bill has posed an existential question before the people of Assam and northeast. If someone tries to end your existence, obviously he or she will protest and that is the reason the people of the northeast are protesting.

"If the entire northeast is standing up against the Bill, it is because it has posed an existential threat to the whole of the region," he said.

--IANS

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