Asaduddin Owaisi: Amit Shah will be in the league of Hitler

New Delhi: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said "Amit Shah will be in the league of Hitler," as part of his remarks opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday. AIMIM chief said Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in the league of Hitler. The remark led to an uproar in the house and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla eventually expunged it from the records.

Owaisi was among the opposers of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha today and said that the Bill violates the fundamental rights of people. Joining him were Congress's Shashi Tharoor and Mamata Banerjee.

Amid the debates, the Lok Sabha voted in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Bill with a majority of 293 and 82 against the bill.

Speaking further on his proposal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the opposition and said that nowhere in the Citizenship Amendment Bill has he mentioned Muslims. He asked the opposition to not tamper the facts. He added that the bill was not unconstitutional. Amit Shah also questioned the opposition whether Indira Gandhi's move to provide citizenship to Bangla refugees in 1971 was also unconstitutional.

"In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Jains have been discriminated against. So this bill will give these persecuted people citizenship. Also, the allegation that this bill will take away the rights of Muslims is wrong. Justice will be done to those who waited for 30 years. There is no political agenda behind this bill. There is unity in diversity. That is the country's mantra. India has never crossed boundaries. We have not launched any attack. There should be some difference between infiltrators and asylum seekers. Which country has not made laws to identify citizens and outsiders."

Further, he added: "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. We have to differentiate between intruders and refugees. The Citizenship Bill does not discriminate, it gives and does not snatch rights,"

The Home Minister even said that citizenship will be granted to refugees even without documents including ration cards. "The inner line permit will be extended to Manipur," he concluded before introducing the Arms Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha.