Union Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh on Tuesday equated the importance of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill with that of the abrogation of Article 370  at the parliamentary party meeting, reported.The BJP-led central government on August 5 abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Rejecting the opposition's criticism of the Citizenship Bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution, Singh said that the BJP has always worked to unite the country and its people.He also asked party MPs to be present in large numbers when Home Minister Amit Shah tables the bill in Parliament.

The issue of absenteeism among BJP MPs from Parliament was also raised at the meeting as Singh mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dissatisfaction over lack of their adequate presence many times, quoted sources as saying.

BJP MPs must be present in Parliament in large numbers when Shah tables the bill, which is likely to be cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, Singh said.

PM Modi, who was not present in the meeting, has often in the past expressed his displeasure at absenteeism among BJP MPs. Referring to the opposition's charge that the bill was against secularism as its beneficiaries excluded Muslims, Singh said the three neighbouring countries were essentially Islamic nations and hence, it was non-Muslims who were at the receiving end of religious persecution there.

The Defence Minister also cautioned the MPs against using unparliamentary words during their intervention in Parliament and said they should be aggressive in countering the opposition but not go to the extent of what the Congress, the BJP's main rival, does

His remarks came against the backdrop of party MP Pragya Thakur being forced to apologise in the Lok Sabha for her comments on Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse. The BJP subsequently barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting during the ongoing session.