Immigration and Foreigners Bill influenced by Islamophobia CPI Member

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) CPI Rajya Sabha member Sandosh Kumar P on Wednesday alleged that the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025 that seeks to streamline services related to immigration and foreigners is influenced by Islamophobia, joining other fellow opposition members in demanding the proposed legislation be sent to select panel of the Parliament.
     Participating in the discussion on the bill, Opposition members Jaya Bachchan (SP), Fauzia Khan (NCP-SCP), N R Elango (DMK), Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT) and Sulata Deo (BJD) also demanded that the bill must be referred to a select committee for further scrutiny.
     "This is a draconian bill and a group of people who are sitting with a kind of manufactured feeling can support this bill," Kumar P asserted.
     Alleging that most of the members of the treasury bench "are in a way influenced by the concept of Islamophobia", he said, "I don't know whether the minister will accept this or not but the point is deeply, saddened or crippled or influenced by the fake concept of Islamophobia. This is the crux of this whole legislation."
     Kumar P cautioned that the proposed legislation will tarnish India's image and its efforts to attract foreign students, tourists, patients for medical tourism.
     "We ourselves claim 'Vishwaguru' and we are coming up with such kind of legislation," he lamented.
     Similarly, Fauzia Khan (NCP-SCP) said the bill does little to innovate but has much to repress.
     Referring to a clause of the bill, she said, "In the government's typical fashion any foreigner posing a threat to India's integrity will be denied entry into the country or permission to stay. What kind of threat? Threat to the nation or threat to the government. I am afraid this clause will be used to cancel visas of people critical of the regime, for example foreign journalists, academics and other professionals."
     Expressing similar views, Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT) said under section 7 of the proposed bill the central government will decide where foreigners, including musicians, artists, social activists and diplomats, who come to India will stay or go.
     If anyone, a foreign diplomat, student delegate or a journalist, comes to India and wants to meet political leaders or opposition leaders, they will have to take permission from the government, which will decide whether they can meet them or not, he added.
     Referring to Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that India is not a dharamsala and the government will not let it become one, Raut said, "At the same time this country is also not a jail."
     He alleged for ten years the government has "in a way have kept the people of this country in jail and now they want to keep the foreigner who are coming to this country on a valid passport and valid visa".
     The kind of conditions that have been placed in the bill will deter foreigners coming to India and tourists will not want to come to India, he said.
     BJP members Bhubaneswar Kalita, Lahar Singh Siroya, Mission Ranjan Das, Ram Chander Jangra  and Kesridevsinh Jhala defended the bill, saying it will enhance national security and blamed the Congress and its allies for the illegal immigrant crisis in Assam and focussing only on vote bank politics.
     They said illegal immigrants put a strain on India's available resources and economy while posing a security threat.
     Sulata Deo (BJD) also agreed that the illegal immigrants, whether they are coming from Myanmar or Bangladesh, are using India's resources and often are in connivance with drug peddling cartels, but said the Bill should be sent to a Select Committee for further scrutiny.
     Jaya Bachchan (SP) also said the Bill should be sent to the Standing Committee. "We must create a dedicated immigrations appeal court or tribunal to challenge immigration decisions," she suggested.
     Similarly, N R Elango (DMK) said the bill should be referred to the Select Committee "or amend the definition of foreigner and foreigner shall not include a Sri Lankan refugee".
     Haris Beeran of IUML termed the proposed legislation a "snoopers paradise" and claimed that the law will have repercussions on an international level as it impacts the foreigners who come to India.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)