Congress to hold nationwide protest against Citizenship Amendment Bill on Wednesday

The Congress party will organise a countrywide protest on Wednesday against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) which was passed in Lok Sabha on the night between Monday and Tuesday.

"We need to enlighten the public at large on our stand and mobilize support in favour of the decision. I request you to undertake Dharna Pradarshan tomorrow against the Bill in the state headquarters," a letter from party's General Secretary KC Venugopal to state Congress Committee leader said.

The Bill will be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by Home Minister Amit Shah.

On Monday, Lok Sabha witnessed a fierce debate on the Bill though it was passed with 311 MPs voting in favour of the Bill while 80 voting against it.

Five Congress MPs were absent were absent during the voting. Party President Sonia Gandhi, who was in the House when the Bill was introduced, was not present during voting.

During the discussion, Shah gave a detailed explanation and reasserted that it is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance manifesto.

Responding to the questions, Shah had said that "Under no dimension, this bill is unconstitutional, or is against Article 14."

Defending the government, Shah also added that there will be no discrimination on the basis of religion. " the Hindu population was 84% and in 2011, it was 79%. In 1991, the Muslim population was 9.8% & today it's 14.23%. We have done no discrimination on the basis of religion and in the future as well, there will be no discrimination based on religion," he had said.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Narendra Modi-led central government requires the support of at least 121 MPs in the 240-member House.