The Big Picture - Citizenship Amendment Bill

The Union Cabinet has cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there. The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, in order to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who come to India after facing religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Over the past weeks, the home ministry has held marathon talks with leaders and stakeholders. A large section of people and organisations in the northeast have opposed the bill. Congress, Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a few other political parties have been steadfastly opposing the bill, claiming that citizenship can't be given on the basis of religion. The bill to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, is likely to be introduced in the Parliament in this session. On this edition of The Big Picture we will analyse the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira
Producer: Sagheer Ahmad

Guests: Gautam Sen, Former Advisor, Govt. of Nagaland

J. Sai Deepak, Advocate, Supreme Court

Sandeep Phukan, Deputy Editor, The Hindu

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