A delegation of an Assam-based Bengali association today derided the All Assam Students Union (AASU) for its opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and demanded strengthening of the proposed law.
The 'Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan' said the Bill in its present form does not guarantee citizenship to the people from minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India at various points of time.
The delegation today presented a memorandum to the 30-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), headed by BJP MP Satyapal Singh, which is examining the Bill.
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"We are in favour of the Bill. But its language needs to be reworked and should reflect clear and unequivocal assurance of citizenship. The waiting period after application should be reduced to six months instead of six years as it currently seeks to provide," Joydeep Biswas, a member of the delegation, said.
He termed as "bizarre" AASU's claim that the Bill, if passed, may change the demography and culture of Assam. AASU has also threatened to launch a mass movement against the Bill.
"It is absurd to think that minorities fleeing persecution in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan will come and settle in Assam," Biswas said.
The original Citizenship Act, passed in 1955, defines the concept of Indian citizenship, and lists out ways to acquire the same, explicitly denying citizenship to all undocumented migrants.
A key amendment in the new Bill, however, seeks to grant citizenship to people without valid documents from minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India.
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