The Indian government has demanded in Parliament today that violence against minorities in neighboring Bangladesh is one of the main reasons for bringing a citizenship reform bill.
The controversial bill is intended to give citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
And while presenting it to the Lok Sabha on Monday, Home Minister Amit Shah quoted the constitution of three neighboring countries, including Bangladesh, saying that people of other religions are being persecuted because of the nationalism of these countries.
Almost all opposition parties, including Congress, are strongly opposed to the bill.
Many anti-MPs raise questions about why Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka or Rohingya, who are from Myanmar, or why are they denied Indian citizenship?
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Home Minister of India Amit Shah
Diplomatically India-Bangladesh relations are now passing through the 'best time' or 'golden chapter', leaders of the two countries often claim.
However, while presenting the citizenship amendment bill in the Lok Sabha in India today, Home Minister Amit Shah said that one of the reasons the government was compelled to bring the bill is because Hindus and Buddhists are being persecuted in Bangladesh.
"People from Bangladesh will also benefit from this bill," he said.
"Honorable Speaker, the genocide did not stop in that country - even after seventy years, persecution of religious minorities continued."
He also reminded that the Islamic religion of Bangladesh is the same as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Hyderabad MP Asaduddin YC
Amit Shah said in parliament, "Article 2 (a) of the constitution of Bangladesh also states that the religion of that republic will be Islam."
"Because of the state of Islam in these three countries, there is no question of Muslims being persecuted there - but people of other religions can be persecuted."
He further claimed that if Congress did not divide the country on the basis of religion, then there would have been no need to bring this bill today.
Opponents, however, disagree with the government's reasoning, saying they think the bill's proposal is actually anti-constitutional - and against India's secularism.
As Hyderabad MP Asaduddin YC told the BBC, "By this the government is bringing the bipartisan theory to the fore."
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Trinamool Congress leaders protest against citizenship amendment bill in Delhi
"The Jinnah doctrine that we rejected, rather than granting citizenship on the basis of religion, is trying to bring it back."
"Are Muslims trying to become second-class citizens? And if religious persecution is to be said, then why not get citizenship only after being persecuted from Myanmar or Syria?", Says Mr WiC.
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Leftists, such as Ahmadiyya or Shi'a Hazaras in Pakistan or Tamil refugees who have escaped ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka or why they will not get Indian citizenship, have also raised the question - who submitted two amendments to the government's bill that day.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said, "Why only three countries - we think this law should apply to all neighboring countries."
"Millions of Tamils from Sri Lanka have been spending days in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu or Orissa for the past thirty years - the Madras High Court has also asked them to give their citizenship."
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A torch rally in Dhaka to protest the attack on Hindus in Nasirnagar, Bangladesh. 26
"So why don't they get this benefit?", Asked Mr Yechury.
"And in the second amendment that we have given, we want to eliminate the mention of religion in this bill."
Hindutva groups like Shiv Sena have also commented on the day that the bill will remove the 'invisible wall' between Hindus and Muslims in India.
Home Minister Amit Shah, however, claimed that the bill would not take away any rights of Muslims in India - because the whole bill was never mentioned once.