Activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander said he will declare himself a Muslim if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passes both houses of the Parliament. "I will officially register Muslim. I will then refuse to submit any documents to NRC. I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim-detention centre and withdrawn citizenship. Join this civil disobedience," he tweeted.
If CAB is passed, this is my civil disobedience:
— Harsh Mander (@harsh_mander) December 10, 2019
I will officially register Muslim. I will then refuse to submit any documents to NRC. I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim- detention centre & withdrawn citizenship.
Join this civil disobedience
The Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution, a little past midnight on Monday after a heated debate that lasted over seven hours. The bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha with 311 members favouring it and 80 voting against it, will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha for its nod. Several amendments brought by opposition members, including one by a Shiv Sena MP, were defeated either by voice vote or division.
According to the proposed legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan—till December 31, 2014—facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
Earlier, in an interview with Frontline, Mander had called the whole National Register of Citizens (NRC) process as "riven with politics and a discourse of perception and political mobilisation, and the othering of a community".
