Congress decides to oppose Citizenship Amendment Bill 'tooth and nail'

A day ahead of the tabling of contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Lok Sabha by the government, Congress has pulled up its socks to vehemently oppose the Bill which allegedly discriminates against the people on the basis of their religion and is counterproductive to the interest of north-eastern states.

The Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group chaired by interim president Sonia Gandhi held a meeting here on Sunday to deliberate upon the strategy to oppose the Bill "tooth and nail" and also how to garner supported from other opposition parties over the issue.

The meeting was attended by prominent faces of Congress in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha that included Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Manickam Tagore, K Suresh, Gaurav Gogoi, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and others.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also participated in the meeting. Sonia Gandhi had earlier expressed her strong opposition to the Bill.

"We will oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill tooth and nail because it is in violation of our Constitution, secular ethos, tradition, culture and civilization," said Chowdhury.

"I appeal to all North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) parties to stand with your people of northeast and do not side with the BJP for political compulsions," said Gogoi.

Although the government has numbers in its favour in the Lok Sabha, it would nonetheless be a challenge for it to get it through in the Rajya Sabha where the Opposition enjoys an edge in terms of numbers.

Gandhi had earlier sent a delegation of senior leaders to northeastern states, which submitted a report to her.

After that, another committee was set up to take the final call on the party's stand as there were some voices in the party who felt that the Bill must be analysed closely.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, and the Personal Data Protection Bill are among the nine bills, which are expected to be taken up for passage in the Lok Sabha during the coming week of the Winter Session of Parliament.

The Winter Session will conclude on December 13.