"Obligation To People Left Behind During Partition": Jaishankar Responds To US' Remarks On CAA, Explains Historical Context

Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar gave the "historical context" of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in response to US' remarks of 'close monitoring' the recently notified act.

"If you hear comments from many parts of the world, it is as if the Partition of India never happened, there were no consequential problems which the CAA is supposed to address," Jaishankar said at the India Today Conclave.

Asserting that it is India's obligation to people who were let down at the time of Partition, Jaishankar said that historical context cannot be removed from a problem to make a political correct argument.

He also cited examples of some countries where citizenship of some religious groups was fast-tracked like Jackson-Vanik amendment did so for Jews from the Soviet Union.

"Fast-tracking of Hungarians after the Hungarian revolution, fast-tracking of Cubans in the 1960s," Jaishankar said that other countries, other democracies have fast-tracked citizenship on the basis of ethnicity, faith and social attributes.

"If you look at Europe, many European countries fast-tracked the citizenship of people who were left behind in the World War or in some cases much before the World War Some historical issues which were not addressed," he added.

He highlighted the historical promise made by India's leadership to the minorities in Pakistan that they were welcome to the country, if they face any problem and alleged that previous leaders did not deliver this promise.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller had commented on CAA potentially impacting religious freedom in India, "We are concerned... we are closely monitoring this law (and) how it will be implemented".