Image Source: PTI Photo

Agencies:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament, in New Delhi.

Introducing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha on Monday amid vociferous protests by Opposition parties, Home Minister Amit Shah mounted a stinging attack on Congress, blaming the party for dividing India on the basis of religion during Partition.

The Opposition has insisted that the Bill, which seeks to make citizenship easier for refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution (leaving out only Muslims), discriminated against people on the basis of religion.

Amit Shah said "It was the Congress that discriminated between Hindu and Muslim refugees. The claims that this Bill has taken away the rights of the Muslims are wrong. In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, and Jains have been discriminated against. So, this Bill will give these persecuted people citizenship,”.