After questioning the intention behind Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Shiv Sena on Tuesday supported the central government in passing the bill in Lok Sabha.
In its editorial published in ‘Saamana’, Shiv Sena had questioned the intention behind the CAB while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in centre of doing an “invisible partition” of Hindus and Muslims.
Shiv Sena had suggested that Union Home Minister Amit Shah should take away the voting rights of new citizens for the next 25 years while claiming that this bill could lead to “vote bank politics”.
However, in a U-turn, Shiv Sena supported the bill in the Parliament today in “interest of the nation”. Shiv Sena has gone ahead to support the CAB which its ally (Congress) in Maharashtra labels the bill as “unconstitutional”.
We supported the bill in the interest of the nation. The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) is applicable in Maharashtra only,” Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said.
Sawant was the sole Shiv Sena MP who was inducted in Narendra Modi government’s cabinet. However, after the tussle between BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra over power-sharing, Sawant resigned from his post as a Union Minister.
The Union Home Minister on Monday introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha in the ongoing winter session of Parliament. Amid the huge uproar, the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha with 293 Ayes and 82 Noes.
The CAB will give citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who got into India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan while leaving Muslims.
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Later, after a day-long debate, the CAB was passed in Lok Sabha with 311 Ayes and 80 Noes. The vote happened after mid-night and all 18 Shiv Sena MPs voted in favour of the bill.
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