India Rejects US Criticism of CAA Implementation

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has strongly refuted the recent criticism by the U.S. State Department regarding the implementation of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal defended the inclusive provisions of the Indian constitution, labeling the CAA as a ‘laudable’ initiative and dismissing the U.S. State Department’s comments as ‘misinformed and unwarranted’.

The U.S. State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, expressed concerns over the CAA’s implementation on Thursday, citing the need to monitor how the Act would be enforced.

Notably, the CAA, which aims to grant citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan excluding Muslims, has been a subject of widespread protests in various parts of India, including Assam and Delhi.

Home Minister Amit Shah has clarified that the CAA does not strip Indian Muslims of their rights and that they will continue to have equal rights as any other citizen.

The law specifically targets Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities from the aforementioned countries who faced religious persecution and entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

India’s commitment to human rights and the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion to all citizens was reiterated by the MEA in response to the U.S. State Department’s statements.

The Indian government emphasized that the CAA is a humanitarian effort to aid distressed minorities and that lectures from those with limited understanding of India’s traditions are unwarranted.

NDTV has been actively covering the developments surrounding the CAA implementation.