Will officially declare as Muslim if CAB is passed: Harsh Mander

NEW DELHI: Prominent human rights activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander on Monday announced that he will officially register himself as Muslim if the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passed by Parliament.

Elaborating the act as ‘civil disobedience movement, the human rights activist tweeted:

“I will officially register Muslim. I will then refuse to submit any documents to NRC. I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim-detention centre and withdrawn citizenship,” he wrote.

“Join this civil disobedience,” the tweet added.

The lively over seven-hour debate saw participation from 48 members. The bill was introduced Monday morning and was passed past midnight.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed after division with 311 members voting in favour and 80 against. The bill will now go to the Rajya Sabha.

The bill makes Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, eligible for citizenship. It seeks to amend the Citizenship Act.

Mander, who quit the IAS in the wake of post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002, earlier, in an interview with Frontline, had called the whole National Register of Citizens (NRC) process as “riven with politics and a discourse of perception and political mobilisation, and the othering of a community”. 

The 66-year-old activist works with survivors of mass violence and hunger as well as homeless persons and street children.