Who is afraid of Amit Shah? Not Indian Muslims, says Kapil Sibal

Launching a bitter attack on the Narendra Modi government and Home Minister Amit Shah over the “divisive” and “unconstitutional” Citizenship Amendment Bill, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that neither Indian Muslims nor anyone else is afraid of the Home Minister or his government.

“You (Amit Shah) said a very objectionable thing in the beginning while introducing the bill that there is no need for India’s Muslims to be afraid of this bill. I must tell you (Amit Shah) that Indian Muslims are not afraid of you. Neither am I afraid of you, nor the Muslims nor anybody else,” Sibal said during a debate on Citizenship Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Shah introduced the Bill in the upper House of Parliament two days after the government bulldozed it in the Lok Sabha where it has an overwhelming majority.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, (CAB) seeks to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and who arrived in India prior to January 1, 2105, eligible for Indian citizenship.

Tearing through the “logic” put forth by Shah for bringing the contentious bill, Sibal said: “You say those non-Muslims fleeing persecution in the three neighbouring countries would not be categorised as illegal migrants and will be given citizenship. But who told you that those people have fled persecution? How do you know they were persecuted though these immigrants have never said themselves that they faced persecution in the countries of their origin?”

Terming the bill as against the basic structure of the Constitution and India’s pluralist fabric, the senior Congress leader said without naming anyone: “Those who have no idea of India cannot be expected to protect the idea of India. I would urge you to not make this country a Jurassic Park where only two dinosaurs will rule.”