‘India not dharamshala’: Amit Shah says action against those coming to create conflict

“Parsis came to India from Persia and are safe here. If there is one smallest minority that stays with self-respect anywhere, it is here. Jews also came from Israel to India. Through CAA, we opened the doors for persecuted minorities,” he said.

“Under Section 3, there is a provision for denying entry to someone who is a threat to national security. This country is not a dharamshala. Now the blacklist has a legal backing,” Shah said.

Being the fifth largest economy in the world, people coming to the country is natural, Shah said. “We welcome those who come for developing India, but be it Rohingya or Bangladeshi, if they come to create conflict here, we will act tough against them,” Shah said.

“We will have a database of all those who come to India. It will help medical tourism, eco-tourism, heritage tourism, and the hospitality sector. It will help in employment and in GDP growth… Cartels of drugs, infiltrators and hawala traders will also be finished off through this Bill. It will prevent people from staying illegally in India. There will be penal provisions for them… We are replacing colonial laws on immigration with a new law in our new Parliament.”

The Bill mandates registration of foreigners arriving in India, empowers the Centre to disallow a foreigner entry to India or exit from India, and to decide what kind of activity the foreigners shall not engage in. The keepers of accommodations, say hotels, and authorities of universities and hospitals, will be mandated to provide online information regarding the stay of foreigners. The onus to prove that the person is not a foreigner will under the Bill lie with the one suspected to be a foreigner.

Under the Bill, any foreigner entering India without a passport and visa will be liable to a sentence of up to five years in jail or a fine of up to `5 lakh, or both.

Regarding there being no appeal against the authorities’ decision, Shah said be it America, England, Germany or France, there is no appeal apart from court and the same will be the case here.

Targeting the CM Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal, Shah said there is a delay fencing 450 km on India-Bangladesh border as Bengal government has not given land. “Who gives illegal immigrants Aadhaar and voter cards? They all get 24 Parganas Aadhaar cards,” he said.

Asked by DMK’s K Kanimozhi what the government was doing for Tamil refugees, Shah said that the Modi government had continued the policy of the previous UPA government, which DMK was part of, and willing to consider new suggestions. He also defended the CAA, saying that it was to benefit those who had fled neighbouring countries to defend their religion and families, but added that those who infiltrated into India would be dealt with differently and sternly.

Initiating the debate, Congress MP Manish Tewari said that the Bill gave “arbitrary powers” to the Centre and made the decision of an immigration officer final and binding, and demanded that the Bill be sent to a Joint Parliamentary committee, which was backed by other Opposition MPs.

Tewari flagged a provision that empowers immigration officers to seize damaged passports without clearly defining what constitutes “damage”. “This provision allows for arbitrariness and gives immigration officers unchecked power to harass individuals by declaring their passports damaged and seizing them. Worse, there is no appeal against such decisions,” he said.