Passing CAB will be a 'big mistake': Congress

The party made it clear that it is not against the refugees or those who come to India to seek shelter.

Congress lawmaker Manish Tewari said his party expects the government to bring a 'comprehensive bill' to deal with refugees.

"....Hum sharnarthiyo ko panah dene ke bilkool khilaf nahi hai (We are not at all against granting shelter to those who come to India seeking shelter)," he said in the Lok Sabha initiating the debate on the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

"Please bring a comprehensive Refugee Law...Bring a law against illegal migration," said the former Union Minister.

Tewari further said the new draft law "should be above religion and such considerations".

He said the 'real intent' of the BJP leadership for piloting this draft law is known to all.

On this backdrop, he said, "...lamho ne galti ki aur sadiyon ne saza pai hae (For momentary mistake, it is the time span of decades which had to pay a big price)".

He said passing this Bill will be a 'big mistake'.

"This (issue of granting citizenship) is a sensitive issue.....and this ought to be seen with sensibility," the opposition member said.

Earlier in the day, his party's floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and other colleagues including Gaurav Gogoi and Shashi Tharoor strongly opposed the introduction of the Bill - which has faced stiff resistance from student organisations, political parties and other stakeholders in the north east.

The Congress member took exceptions to Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks made earlier that the Congress party has been 'responsible' for country's partition. In this context, he said, "The fact of the matter is if anyone had put the foundation of two-nation theory it was done in 1935 at a Hindu Mahasabha meet by Veer Savarkar".