Citizenship Bill, Congress failure

It appears that the Congress and the Opposition missed a golden opportunity to scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Rajya Sabha by not allowing the government to place it in the Upper House. 

This question has arisen after the drama, which the Congress staged to oppose the government’s move to place the Bill. The Bill requires support from a simple majority in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to become a law. The government has the adequate number of members to pass the Bill in the Lok Sabha and hence it did it. 

The Opposition has the required majority in the Rajya Sabha to reject the Bill and could have cancelled it there itself. The Opposition still has a bigger number of members in the Rajya Sabha than the ruling NDA. 

Since the Congress was seen opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill playing to the agitating masses of the seven States of North East India, it was expected that it would use the Opposition’s numbers to scrap the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. But instead of rejecting the Bill, the Congress did not allow the government to place the Bill itself in the Rajya Sabha. Though the move prevented the government’s move to pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, it is seen as the Congress party’s failure to make the best of the opportunity of scrapping it.

 - Suresh Kumar K, Hyderabad