The government has reached out to the members of the US Congress and other stakeholders to share its perspective on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
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The US House Foreign Affairs Committee had voiced concerns over the bill, noting that any religious test for citizenship undermines pluralism, which is one of the core shared values for both India and the United States. House Foreign Affairs Committee had tweeted on Monday, "Religious pluralism is central to the foundations of both India and the United States and is one of our core shared values". "Any religious test for citizenship undermines this most basic democratic tenet," it had said.
The US also urged India to protect the rights of its religious minorities in keeping with its Constitution and democratic values as it continues to monitor the developments in various Indian states related to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. "We are closely following developments regarding the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law are fundamental principles of our two democracies," a State Department spokesperson said on Thursday. "The US urges India to protect the rights of its religious minorities in keeping with India's Constitution and democratic values," the spokesperson said.
Asked about the panel's observation, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the government of India's views on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has already been articulated in Parliament. "We have reached out to the members of the US Congress, we have reached out to other stakeholders to share our perspective on the bill," he said.
"We feel that given our strong engagement with the Congress and other stakeholders in the US on matters of mutual interest, we expect that the members of the US Congress will take into account our views before drawing a conclusion on the bill," he added.
Multiple US Congresspersons had singled out India after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Expressing concern over situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the Citizenship Amendment Bill that was cleared in the Parliament, a top Indian-American Democratic Congressman has said that India's strength is as a secular democracy and protecting the rights of minority communities is a key aspect of it. "India's strength has been a secular democracy. And being a secular democracy means protecting the rights of the minorities. That was the vision of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru," Ami Bera, the longest serving Indian-American Congressman, said.
India's Citizenship Amendment Bill is an attempt to reduce minority Muslims into second class citizens, a Muslim-American Congressman said. "This move is yet another attempt to effectively reduce Muslims in India to second-class citizens," said Congressman Andre Carson, who is one of the three Muslim members currently serving in the US Congress. Carson also raised his concern for the removal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. "When the Indian Prime Minister Modi announced the unilateral changes to Jammu and Kashmir's status on August 5, I expressed my grave concern about its implications for the future of Kashmir," he said.
