Six of the 20 Members of Parliament (MPs) from Kerala opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 while participating in the debate held after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 9, 2019.
Those who spoke against the Bill in the debate included five MPs belonging to the United Democratic Front (UDF), and A.M. Ariff, the lone MP of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from the State, in the 17th Lok Sabha. The MPs of UDF who opposed it included E.T. Mohammed Basheer, Shashi Tharoor, N.K. Premachandran, P.K. Kunhalikutty, and Thomas Chazhikadan, according to data compiled by the non-profit PRS Legislative Research.
Anto Antony of the UDF had opposed the Bill after raising it as a matter under rule 377 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha on February 4, 2020. Congress MP V.K. Sreekandan had asked two unstarred questions on the Bill on February 2, 2021 and March 23, 2021 respectively. He also introduced a Private Members’ Bill titled ‘The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2023 (Amendment of section 18)’ on August 4, 2023.
