DMK, RJD move SC against Citizenship (Amendment) Act

DMK party and RJD MP Manoj Jha and others on Tuesday filed their petitions in the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, a day before the crucial hearing in the top court, amid the increased protest against the statute.

“The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 is highly discriminatory, imprints hatred among fellow Indians and causes division with religion and race among Indians,” the DMK stated in its plea.

It also claimed the amended law was “tainted with racism as it keeps away Tamil Race from the benefit and application of this Act and therefore unconstitutional”.

RJD MP, Jha, in his PIL, claimed the amendment was unconstitutional and void since it violated Article 14 and 25 and the basic structure of the Constitution, besides being against the concept of constitutional morality.

“The exclusion of citizenship rights solely based on religion is with a malafide intention of discriminating against the religious groups and is therefore violative of secularism, which is a basic feature of the Constitution,” his petition stated.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant is scheduled to consider on December 18 the batch of petitions against the amendment, notified on December 12, that has made only Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, except Muslims, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship.

The petitions filed by IUML and its MPs, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, All Assam Students Union, Makkal Needhi Maiyam, Asom Gana Parishad and others are listed for hearing.