The Citizenship Ammendment Bill (CAB) was on Monday tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Speaking in the Lower House of the Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah said that CAB had the "endorsement of 130 crore citizens of the country as it was the part of the BJP manifesto in 2014 as well as 2019 Lok Sabha elections".
He also added that there was "no political agenda behind this bill, no question of injustice with anyone."
Initiating the debate on the contentious bill Shah said that the government will have to "differentiate between intruders and refugees".
"Citizenship amendment bill does not discriminate against anyone and does not snatch anyone's rights," he said. Shah said that citizenship will be granted to refugees "even without documents, including ration cards".
Trying to allay apprehensions of the people of Northeastern region, Shah said the Narendra Modi government was committed to protect the customs and culture of the people of the region and informed that Manipur will be brought under Inner Line Permit regime.
"We are committed to protect indigenous customs and cultures of the northeast," he said.
"We are including Manipur in Inner Line Permit system, this big issue has now been resolved. I thank PM Modi on behalf of people of Manipur for fulfilling this long standing demand," he was quoted by ANI as saying.
"In 1947, all refugees which came in, all were accepted by the Indian constitution, there would hardly be any region of the country where refugees from West and East Pakistan didn't settle. From Manmohan Singh ji to LK Advani ji, all belong to this category," he added.
