Rajya Sabha clears Immigration Bill amid Opposition walkout, heated debate on security

While the Opposition demanded that the Bill be sent to a Parliamentary panel for review, Rai said that the existing laws on immigration predated the country’s independence and that the Bill was brought by the government after a study of three years.

The country will welcome those coming to India for education, tourism, development work, or research work, he said. “We will not stop or oppose experts coming to India… If anyone is studying here or undergoing medical procedures, they have to provide information online. We must know where they are staying…we did not know the whereabouts of people earlier, as no records were maintained in the past,” Rai said.

“Those coming with good intentions would be welcomed, and those coming to conspire against India are not,” Rai said.

Attacking the Opposition, Rai alleged that Congress in the past and the TMC government in West Bengal had aided infiltration. He also alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government was not not cooperating on border fencing work by stalling the grant of land. This prompted Opposition members to walk out. BJP’s Lahar Singh Siroya said the Bill will curb infiltration, which has been rampant in the past, and will help clamp down on creation of fake identity cards and ration cards.

Initiating the discussion on the Bill, Congress member Abhishek Manu Singhvi called the Bill “unconstitutional” and said, “This Bill sends a message that all foreigners are potential criminals to be viewed with serious suspicion by India… India is to act as an unwelcome fortress for its unwanted non-guests.”

The proposed legislation, he said, elevates a constable to the level of a super commissioner and “gives a license for harassment”, all based on the fundamentally false assumption that foreigners have no rights under the Constitution, he said.

The Bill empowers the central government to refuse entry to or deport any foreigner on the grounds of national security, sovereignty, integrity of India, foreign relations and public health, he said, adding, “grounds can be added to deny entry or stay in India”.

“… It is clearly designed for ulterior motives by a control freak government bent upon sending out a message of fear through the architecture of omniscient, Orwellian surveillance for foreigners,” he said.

NCP-SP’s Fauzia Khan 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.”

DMK’s N R Elango, SP’s Jaya Bachchan and IUML’s Haris Beeran criticised the Bill over absence of an appeal mechanism.