It's majority vs morality; will make govt bleed: TMC ahead of Citizenship Bill's tabling in RS

A day before the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday said it was a matter of "majority versus morality and we will make the government bleed" in its efforts towards the contentious legislation's passage.

The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday with 311 members favouring and 80 voting against it, and is scheduled to be taken up for consideration in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

"This Bill is not about numbers. It is about majority versus morality and we will make the government bleed to pass this legislation," Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien said.

He said the party would move 20 amendments to the Bill to change its basic nature.

On an ongoing tussle between his party supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Rajya Sabha member alleged that the governor had not signed important legislations sent by the government such as the West Bengal State Commission for SC and ST Bill.

"This is humiliation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the state," O'Brien said and alleged that Dhankhar was running the governor's office like an "RSS shakha".