New Delhi: In an impassioned speech opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien said that the CAB wasn't a "distraction" from the government’s failures, but its main "agenda" as he urged the BJD and JD(U) to make a distinction between "majority" and "morality" ahead of voting on the bill.
"I implore BJD and JDU leaders... you have to take a stand today. You will have to answer your future generations. What will you say when your grandchildren ask you 20 years from now which button did you press?" O’Brien said, while comparing the bill to laws passed in Nazi Germany.
"There is an eerie similarity in what was passed in Germany and what could be passed today...there are clauses in this bill that are similar to what the Nazis had introduced... There were concentration camps back then and today there are detention centers in Assam which house lakhs of Bengali Hindus... There is a lie being spread today that India is under threat...this is the big lie that is being spread today," he said.
After sailing through Lok Sabha, the CAB was introduced by home minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, where it is expected to face a stiffer test. Opposition parties, minority groups, academics and a US federal panel have contested the bill, which for the first time provides a legal route to Indian citizenship based on religion, calling it discriminatory against Muslims.
O'Brien dubbed the bill as "unconstitutional" and noted that if passed, it will land up at the Supreme Court. But he added, "Before this bill goes to SC there will be a people's movement... The TMC will spearhead a people's movement against the bill."
He also said that the bill was anti-Bengali and ant-Indian. "No one should teach a Bengali about patriotism. This bill is unconstitutional… there is no doubt about that... if passed this will go to SC," Derek O Brien said and attacked the BJP as a party based on "three Js" - "Jhoot Jhaansa (cheating) Jumla."
"The Home Minister says that there is nothing to worry about...during demonetisation PM says give me 30 days for this to work or else burn me...but today no one speaks of demonetisation. This government is very good at making promises, it is even better at breaking promises," he added.
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