Washington – The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) sought US Government sanctions against Indian Home Minister Amit Shah and other leaders if Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that excludes Muslims from citizenship, is passed by both the houses of Parliament.
According to the statement issued by USCIRF on Monday, “if the CAB passes in both houses of Parliament, the US government should consider sanctions against the Home Minister Amit Shah and other principal leadership.”
“CAB enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion,” it read.
Further it stated that, “the CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith.”
On the other hand, a powerful Congressional Committee of United States raised grave concerns over the CAB, stating that any religious test for citizenship undermines pluralism, which is the core shared values for both India and the US.
“Religious pluralism is central to the foundations of both India and the United States and is one of our core shared values,” House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a tweet Monday.
“Any religious test for citizenship undermines this most basic democratic tenet,” tweeted the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The lower house of Indian parliament known as Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill on Monday mignight i.e. morning of Tuesday 12:11 am, which states that followers of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian religions sans Muslims who migrated to India before December 31, 2014 are eligible for Indian citizenship.
The bill was debated in the parliament, however 311 members voted in favor of it while only 80 voted against it.
