'Generations Will Salute Stand You Took in 2019': IIM Bangalore's Plea Before Tabling of Citizenship Amendment Bill

New Delhi: The fraternity of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore have written to the Members of Parliament, appealing them to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 in Lok Sabha on Monday. The faculty is of the view that it is against the founding principles of the "Republic of India", and is "highly unlikely to benefit even the intended beneficiaries".

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha today on December 9, 2019. This Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there.

Shah will introduce the Bill to amend the six-decade-old Citizenship Act and later in the day, it will be taken up for discussion and passage, according to the Lok Sabha's List of Business.

The letter says, that undersigned students, staff, and faculty of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore are writing to them with a "sense of urgency."

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) has been cleared by the Union cabinet. "The CAB goes against the fundamental founding principle of our republic – equality before law without regard to religious beliefs," the IIM Bangalore members said, who called themselves people concerned about the "dignity of fellow citizens".

The fraternity of IIM Bangalore says, "The CAB, along with the promise of an expanded nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) has spread fear in the minds of more than two-hundred million of our fellow Muslim citizens."

Adding on this, it says "India’s great strength lies in its diversity. Stripping two-hundred million fellow Indians of their basic dignity will not make India great or strong. Instead, it will lay the foundations of a country in perpetual strife."

Urging the MPs to further oppose the CAB, the letter says, "The CAB will foment ethnic and communal discontent across the vast swathe of India from Tamil Nadu to Assam, even while it is highly unlikely to benefit even the intended beneficiaries. We urge you to oppose the CAB in Parliament."

The fraternity signs off saying, "Generations to come will salute the stand that you took in 2019 to safeguard the founding principles of our republic."