Mizoram Assembly adopts resolution against Citizenship Bill; state home minister says bill against principles of secularism

Aizawl: The Mizoram Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted an official resolution, expressing opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. [caption id=“attachment_4096595” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act 1955, proposes to make illegal migrants of six communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — eligible for Indian citizenship after six years of residence in the country. The official resolution, moved by state home minister R Lalzirliana, impressed upon the Centre that the Bill, if enacted, would be harmful to states like Mizoram where a large number of illegal Buddhist migrants from Bangladesh resided. Lalzirliana said the Bill, seeking to make illegal migrants eligible for Indian citizenship on the basis of religion, was against the principles of secularism and “amounted to the patronage of some religions”.