CAB is targeted against Muslims, pan-India NRC will bring catastrophe: Religious leaders

Several Muslim religious leaders and eminent personalities criticised the BJP government on Monday over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the NRC, saying both are aimed at singling out Muslims and will bring a human catastrophe across the country.

Opposing both the NRC and the CAB, Muslim religious leaders and organisations said the exercises are against the principles of the Constitution.

"Both NRC and CAB are targeted against Muslims. India is a secular country since Independence. Our Indian Constitution also states that India is a secular country. But both NRC and CAB are based on religion and are against the basic principles of our Constitution," Maulana Abdur Rafiq, senior leader of the Jamait Islamia Hind, West Bengal, said.

Rafiq's views were shared by Kari Fazlur Rehman of the All India Milli Council, West Bengal, who appealed to the Union government to withdraw its decision to move forward with the NRC and the CAB.

"We have seen what Assam NRC has done to that state, where 19 lakh people have been omitted from the final list. We seen how people are suffering. Both NRC and CAB would bring in a human catastrophe across the country. The centre should withdraw their decision," Rehman said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to give Indian nationality to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan facing religious persecution there, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday.

Shah on Monday asserted that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has the "endorsement of 130 crore Indian citizens" and rejected suggestions that the measure is anti-Muslim, saying it will give rights to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.