Rahul Gandhi accuses PM Modi & Amit Shah of 'ethnic cleansing' in North East with CAB

Congress' Rahul Gandhi targetted PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, by sharing an article on the incessant protests simmering across the northeast, rejecting the Bill. In a tweet, Gandhi claimed that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is a gimmick to "ethnically cleanse" the North East. Moreover, called it a "criminal attack."

Rahul Gandhi, on twitter, exuded his solidarity with the North East, which has come on streets to protest against the passage of the Bill. After the conclusion of a 7-hour-long debate, which saw the participation of 38 MPs from across the political spectrum, the Lok Sabha on Monday midnight passed the with 311 votes in favor and 80 against the Bill. The Bill will be tabled on Rajya Sabha for its passage at 2 PM Wednesday.

READ| Rajya Sabha awaits mega Citizenship Amendment Bill showdown: Here's how the numbers look

Objecting the Bill, Gandhi said, "The CAB is an attempt by Modi-Shah Govt to ethnically cleanse the North East. It is a criminal attack on the North East, their way of life and the idea of India. I stand in solidarity with the people of the North East and am at their service." 

According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, non-Muslim minorities, who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and moved to the country before December 31, 2014, will be accorded Indian citizenship. It, however, exempted tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura, as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, and areas covered under The Inner Line Permit system, notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

READ| Digvijaya Singh calls out Nitish Kumar before CAB gets tabled in Rajya Sabha

North East protest

Large parts of the northeast on Tuesday simmered over protests by students' unions and Left-democratic organisations against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha. Huge processions were taken out in different areas of Guwahati, with protesters raising slogans against the emotive legislation.

In Tripura, agitators participating in a bandh called by the NESO set a market, where shops were owned mostly by non-tribals, on fire in Dhalai district, police said. Incidents of tyre burning and vandalisation of vehicles were reported in Meghalaya capital Shillong, as protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails at a police vehicle damaging it in Mawlai area, East Khasi Hills district deputy commissioner M W Nongbri told PTI.

(With PTI inputs)

READ| Kapil Sibal questions govt's agenda on CAB; urges Amit Shah to 'read the Constitution'