Opinion 40 years ago December 4, 1985: Citizenship bill
This is the front page of The Indian Express published on December 4, 1985.
This is the front page of The Indian Express published on December 4, 1985. Parliament approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill, with the Rajya Sabha passing it after an assurance by Minister of State for Home P A Sangma that the government is committed to the implementation of the Assam Accord in letter and spirit. Responding to criticism by Opposition members, the minister said, “I want to make it very clear that the bill does not deal with the minorities. This bill deals with foreigners.”
PM on personal law
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said his government was not averse to reviewing any law that came into conflict with the personal law of any religious group. He said the existing laws had been framed to ensure they did not infringe on the personal laws of any community. The government was considering the demand for exclusion of Muslims from Section 125 of the CrPC in view of the SC judgment in the Shah Bano case.
Motions against Goenka
Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, rejected two privilege notices against Ramnath Goenka, chairman, Indian Express group of newspapers, while observing that Goenka had “overreacted” to the reply of the Minister of State for Law and Justice, H R Bhardwaj, in Parliament over the Express-Jagmohan case. Madhu Dandavate (Janata) and K P Unnikrishnan (Congress-S) had given the notices drawing the Speaker’s attention to the “deliberate and wilful” attack made by Goenka against the minister in an article in the Indian Express.
Sri Lanka gas leak
A toxic white gas identified as chlorine escaped from a semi-mothballed fertiliser factory in a suburban town near Colombo, causing nausea and setting off a panic. About 60 residents were rushed by ambulances to the Colombo general hospital and 50 others sought treatment in their local hospital. There were no reports of any deaths in the leakage.
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