Opposition fears immigration bill misuse, seeks JPC scrutiny

New Delhi: The opposition on Thursday voiced serious concerns that stringent provisions in the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, including final authority to immigration officers, would be misused by

BJP government

to target its critics, citing recent denial of entry into the country to British academic

Nitasha Kaul

and US socialist politician Kshama Sawant. It demanded that LS send the bill to the JPC for scrutiny.
Congress’ Manish Tewari and other MPs alleged the bill lacked the balance between law and fundamental rights. They accused Modi govt of invoking infiltration of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas during polls, but doing nothing during 11 years in office to address the situation. The opposition reminded govt US deported Indian migrants in chains, questioning why so many Indians are compelled to take the ‘Dunki route’ if India truly had strong global standing.
DMK’s Kanimozhi said the bill would hurt the interest of 90,000

Sri Lankan Tamils

living in Tamil Nadu for three decades. Tewari said the bill’s provisions give “arbitrary powers” to govt to decide exemption categories, and slammed the clause that makes the immigration officer’s decision final.
Sudhakar Singh (RJD), Rajeev Rai (SP), NK Premachandran (RSP), Saugata Ray (TMC), Raja Ram Singh (CPI-ML) Malwinder Kang (AAP), Manoj Kumar (Cong), K Radhakrishnan (CPM), IUML, Francis George (Kerala Congress) criticised the bill.