India Passes Controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill

The upper house of Indian parliament, or Rajya Sabha, passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The bill will grant citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions

- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and

Christianity - from neighboring Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, it has kept out

Muslims from applying for the citizenship.

A heated debated was witnessed in the house on

Wednesday for hours, after which the bill was put to vote in the evening.

“After discussions, 125 members voted in its favour and 105 against it,” an official said.

The bill was introduced in the house by Home Minister Amit Shah, who vehemently countered the opposition’s claims that the bill was an assault on the constitution of India.

Opposition parties criticized the bill as contrary to secular principles enshrined in India’s constitution as it excludes Muslims.

“Today marks the dark day in the constitutional history of India. The passage of the Citizenship

Amendment Bill marks the victory of narrow-minded and bigoted forces over India’s pluralism,” Congress

Party chairperson Sonia

Gandhi said in a statement.

The BJP government on Tuesday easily managed to pass the bill in the lower house of parliament, Lok Sabha, because of its majority.

The bill will become a law after being signed by the president. The CAB has already triggered widespread protests in the country especially in the northeastern states of Assam and Tripura, bordering Bangladesh, as locals fear immigrants will endanger their position.

Through the bill, the Indian government will grant Indian citizenship to those non-Muslim immigrants who entered the country illegally before December 31, 2014.