NEW DELHI: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that makes it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to get Indian citizenship was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah after opposition members vociferously opposed it.

The Citizenship Bill, 2019 was introduced after a division with 293 members voting in favour of the bill while 82 opposed it.

It took almost 90 minutes for the bill to be introduced in the House after Shah tabled it with Opposition members including Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, TMC's Saugata Roy, DMK member TR Baalu and RSP's NK Premachandran strongly opposing its introduction. They demanded the withdrawal of the bill.

The bill makes Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who faced religious persecution in their countries, eligible for citizenship. It seeks to amend the Citizenship Act.

Responding to concerns of members, Home Minister said that there is nothing in the bill against the minority community. "The bill is not even .001 percent against minorities of the countries," he said.

He said there was a need of the bill because the country was divided into religious lines during Congress rule.

"Who divided the country? Congress did it. We did not," he added.

He said that many bills had been made on the basis of "reasonable classification" and does not violate provisions of the constitution.