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Opposition is all set to counter the ruling BJP on Citizenship amendment Bill

O’Brien said “This is not about Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha numbers, but about preserving the heart and soul of India and what our founding fathers stood for

New Delhi: On Thursday around twelve opposition parties, including the Congress, the TMC and the Left, held a meeting and decided on an eight-point agenda to counter the ruling BJP government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill likely to be tabled in Parliament next week, sources said.

The meeting attended by senior Rajya Sabha members from opposition parties such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M), was held in Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad’s chamber. All leaders met twice during the day to firm up the opposition strategy on the CAB, they said.

The opposition parties discussed on eight-point agenda, which they will put before the people in the next five days, states that are against the bill and everything the nation’s founding fathers envisioned, it lays down multiple grounds for citizenship for one country, sources said.

“The CAB uses the Sixth Schedule and Inner Line Permit to set different grounds for citizenship. Four months ago the government talked about one nation, one tax, one election, one law,” a source said elaborating on the eight points the opposition parties agreed upon.

Sources said the opposition parties also agreed that the bill is anti-tribal, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and CAB are not separate but hyphenated, the NRC was botched up in Assam, the central government should not distract from the “mess” the economy is in, and the entire opposition will get its MPs, MLAs, councilors to spread this opinion against the bill in their constituency.

According to Congress sources, the party chief Sonia Gandhi will discuss within the senior party leaders and other parties to give shape to her party’s response to the bill.

On Thursday Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that our party will oppose the bill aimed at providing citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

“Our party is against any kind of discrimination against anybody in this country. So, anybody who tries to discriminates against anybody who is Indian, our party will oppose them. That is our line. We believe that India belongs to all and every community, all religions, all cultures,” Gandhi said in Kozhikode.

TMC leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien, who was present at the meeting, said NRC was a trap and so is CAB.

O’Brien said “This is not about Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha numbers, but about preserving the heart and soul of India and what our founding fathers stood for. All opposition parties have agreed that over the next five days we will expose the complete falsehood of the BJP on CAB. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has rejected NRC in West Bengal and more states will also,”.

“NRC and CAB both are two sides of the same coin and we are all united against it,” said CPI’s D Raja, who was not present in the meeting.

The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is likely to be introduced in the lower house on December 9 and will be taken up for discussion and passage the next day.

On Thursday the central government informed leaders of different parties at the Business Advisory Committee that it will put the bill for discussion in Lower House on Tuesday.

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