US Expresses Concern Over CAA, Will ‘Closely Monitor’ its Implementation

New Delhi: The US has expressed concern over the notification of rules under the CAA with immediate effect and said it would “closely monitor” its implementation.

Addressing reporters at the daily briefing in Washington, US state department spokesperson Mathew Miller said, in response to a question on the Citizenship Amendment Act in India: “We are closely monitoring how this Act will be implemented. Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles”, according to news agency PTI.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi government notified rules on implementation of the controversial Act on March 11, 2024, four years after the Bill was passed by Parliament.

The amended CAA (the original was the Citizenship Act of 1955), offers Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis (it excludes Muslims) who migrated from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan prior to December 31, 2014.

The Act had sparked protests throughout the country as a large section of the population saw it as discriminatory against Muslims and undermining of the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution of India by making religion a test of citizenship. Over 100 people are estimated to have died in the protests. Among the longest protests was the one in Shaheen Bagh in the country’s capital city.

The Opposition parties have opposed the “discriminatory” Act, with some non-BJP ruled state chief ministers, such as Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu saying they would not implement it.

Meanwhile, widespread protests are going in the North-Eastern state of Assam, with several organisations, civil society and Opposition parties on the streets.

In the meantime, the Centre has come out with a press statement to say that Indian Muslims need not worry as the CAA will not impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the community which enjoys equal rights as their Hindu counterparts.

Amnesty International Terms CAA a ‘Bigoted Law’

In a statement, Amnesty International said operationalisation of the CAA in India was a “blow’ to the country’s constitutional values of equality and religious non-discrimination.

“The Citizenship Amendment Act is a bigoted law that legitimises discrimination on the basis of religion and should never have been enacted in the first place. Its operationalization is a poor reflection on the Indian authorities as they fail to listen to a multitude of voices critical of the CAA – from people across the country, civil society, international human rights organizations and the United Nations,” said Aakar Patel, chair of board at Amnesty International India.

Amnesty said many other groups in South Asia region, “such as Rohingya Muslims, Sri Lankan Tamils, Bhutanese, Hazaras, Shias and Ahmadiyyas face exclusion without justification by the discriminatory 2019 amendment. These groups too have suffered due to their religious identities and seek refuge in India, the largest country in the neighbourhood.”

 The statement, while referring to statements made by some leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, feared that CAA, along with the national Register of Citizens and Foreigner Tribunals could be “weaponised” against Muslim minorities in the country.

“Together, they create a system that can be weaponized against Muslims. If left out of the NRC, the Foreigners Tribunals are empowered to deprive individuals of their citizenship and send them to a detention centre. In such a scenario, only the religious groups mentioned in CAA would be able to retain their citizenship through the discriminatory application of the Citizenship Amendment Act while others including Muslims would be rendered stateless,” the statement read.