After the cabinet gave a green-signal to the bill, AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) if implemented "will make India Israel," which is known for "discrimination."
"The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in itself shows that they want to make India a religious country," Owaisi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"India will be in the league of Israel which is the most discriminatory country in the world," he added.
"If the media reports are correct that the North-Eastern states will be exempted from the proposed CAB law, then it will be a grave violation of Article 14 related to fundamental rights as you cannot have two laws on citizenship in this country," he said.
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"It will give citizenship on the basis of religion, which is against the principles of our Constitution," he said.
"Bringing CAB will be a dishonour to our freedom fighters because you will be reviving the two-nation theory. As an Indian Muslim, I rejected MA Jinnah's theory. Now you are making a law wherein, unfortunately, you will be reminding the nation of the two-nation theory," he added.
The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India even if they do not possess any document.
The Bill has been attacked by the opposition, minority outfits and others for leaving out Muslims and also on the ground that it is at odds with the Constitution, which does not differentiate between citizens on the basis of their faith.