Citizenship Law: Many Opposition MPs Helped Modi Government

Lucknow: There is strong opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act in various parts of the country and protests have taken violent forms in many places. After the incident of arson and violence in Jamia Millia, the Opposition lashed out at the government over the barbaric lathicharge of the police and called on the President to withdraw the law. The opposition says that this law is against the Constitution and the secular structure of the country.

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The Opposition strongly opposed this law outside the House, but you must be surprised to know that on the day when the Rajya Sabha was going to vote on it, all the MPs of the opposition stayed absent and helped the Modi government in passing the bill.

There was no problem with the Modi government in passing the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, but the Rajya Sabha had the skills test of the government. The government was definitely involved in floor management, but many MPs of the opposition also helped the government by being absent. The opposition made the government's work much easier.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha by 125 votes while 99 votes against it. Kabilegore also said that NDA had only 99 votes but NDA managed to get 125 votes in support of the bill from floor management. The NDA managed to get 26 additional votes while four of its MPs were absent at the time of voting due to health reasons.

However, the most noticeable thing is how the opposition MPs remained absent and helped the government. First of all Shiv Sena's stand, it voted in the Lok Sabha in support of this bill, but when the former Congress president tightened the stance about it, his stand in Rajya Sabha changed.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut gave a lengthy speech in the Rajya Sabha regarding this bill, but when the time came for voting, Shiv Sena MPs walked out instead of voting against it. The three Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Rajkumar Dhoot walked out at the time of voting.

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The Sharad Pawar-led NCP helped the Modi government as its two MPs Majid Menon and Vandana Chavan were also absent at the time of voting on the cab. However, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel were present in the House and voted against the bill.

BSP chief Mayawati has been showering heavily on the Modi government after the passage of this bill and has sought time to meet the President regarding this, but it is clear that two of his MPs were absent during the voting without any explanation. Two of his MPs Rajaram and Ashok Siddharth were absent in the house at the time of voting.

KD Singh, a TMC MP, did an amazing job. He complained of high BP at the time of voting and did not participate in the voting. Now the TMC leadership has issued a show cause notice and sought their reply.

The Samajwadi Party is also strongly opposed to this law. The party has staged a sit-in in various districts including Lucknow, but one of its MPs, Bena Prasad Verma, did not participate in the voting. A Congress MP, Mukut Mithi, was absent in the house at the time of voting. TRS's Dharmapuri Srinivas was also not present in the house at the time of voting.

Though 11 MPs of AIDMK, 7 of Biju Janata Dal, 2 of TDP and some other MPs supported the Modi government in passing this bill, but many MPs of Opposition also absented and helped the Modi government indirectly.

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