India rejects US concerns over citizenship law – 2024-03-17 08:10:39

The Modi government has dismissed US concerns over India’s newly implemented religion-based ‘controversial’ new Citizenship Act (CAA). India’s External Affairs Ministry on Friday (March 15) termed the US’s comments on the law as ‘incorrect and unreasonable’.

At a regular press briefing on Friday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We are concerned about the Citizenship Amendment Act that was implemented in India on March 11. We are monitoring how this law will be implemented.

He further said that respect for religious freedom and ensuring equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental principles of democracy. We are looking into whether India is implementing that policy properly or not.

Movement against the amended Citizenship Act in India/ Photo: ANI

Responding to the US statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We think that such a comment by the US is a wrong and unreasonable interpretation of the Citizenship Act.” Those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic heritage and post-Partition history, should not speak on this matter.

He further said that the amended Citizenship Act is an internal matter of India. The Act was enacted to protect the persecuted minorities of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities who came to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh on or before December 2014. Citizenship will be given through CAA, no citizenship will be taken away.

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“The CAA solves the problem of statelessness, provides human dignity to all citizens of India and upholds human rights. The Constitution of India guarantees religious freedom to all citizens of the country. There is no basis or scope for any concern or treatment towards minorities.

Incidentally, the amended Citizenship Bill in India became law in 2019. The BJP government on Monday (March 11) suddenly issued a notification to introduce the CAA ahead of the upcoming general elections. According to that law, before December 31, 2014, non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to the country to escape religious persecution will be granted Indian citizenship.

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Ever since the CAA notification was issued, there has been an uproar across India. Opposition leaders alleged that the provisions contained in this circular are unconstitutional, discriminatory and against the principle of secular citizenship recognized in the constitution.

The opposition also claims that the BJP has specific political motives behind implementing it ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. If not, why is the notification of the law passed four and a half years ago issued now? However, the BJP government dismissed all the criticisms of the opposition as completely baseless.

Source: Al Jazeera, Reuters

SAH