(Image source from: icij.org)

The government of India has urged the sponsors and the supporters of the European Union Parliament to engage with India in order to get a full and accurate assessment of the facts surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The European Union Parliament is set to introduce an anti- CAA resolution as it described the legislation as a dangerous shift in the citizenship regime of India for which the government asked the supports to engage with India so that an accurate assessment can be made prior to any further actions.

The government has also reiterated that the CAA was not discriminating the people based on their religion and has also mentioned saying that the same approach has also been made by the European Societies in the past.

The government has said that they have been informed that a draft resolution on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is intended to be made by some members of the4 European Union Parliament. The government has also added saying that the issue of the Citizenship Amendment act is entirely internal to the country India and that it has been adopted through democratic means after the bill has gone through public debate in Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha being both the Houses of the Parliament.

The government of India has expressed hope that any action that calls into question the rights of the legislatures that are democratically elected would not be taken by the European Union Parliament as being the fellow democracies.

The resolution that has been tabled by the European United Left or the Nordic Green left Group is said to be debated on Wednesday and voted upon the day after. It is said to have been made a reference to the Charter of the United Nations, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the India- EU Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan signed in November 2005, and to the EU- Indian Thematic Dialogue on Human Rights.

Six resolutions on the twin issues of the CAA and reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir have been moved by 626 out of the 751 members of the European Union Parliament, according to the IANS report.

The resolution has said that a dangerous shift regarding the determining of citizenship in India is made by the Citizenship Amendment Act. It has also said that many leaders of the government have been engaging in efforts to discredit, rebuke and threaten the protesters rather than addressing their concerns, offering corrective action, calling for security forces in order to act with restraint and ensuring accountability.

The Citizenship Amendment Act that has been passed by the government of India on is seeking to offer the citizenship of India to the non- Muslim communities i.e., Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddists, Jains from the three neighboring countries being Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who are religious minorities and are facing religious persecution there and have come to India on or before 31st of December in the year 2014.

By Shrithika Kushangi