'World full of such examples': Jaishankar defends CAA, questions critics on their understanding of history; WATCH

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday defended the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying the world was full of examples of fast-tracking of citizenship of affected sections. He also responded to criticisms surrounding the CAA from Washington and other parts of the world. 

US Ambassador Eric Garcetti had on Saturday said that the principles of religious freedom and equality under the law are a cornerstone of democracy. "And, that is why we look at these things, it will be easier not to look at our friends. We invite you to do the same with our imperfect democracy, it is not a one-way street. But, you cannot give up on principles, no matter how close you are with friends," he said during India Today Conclave 2024. 

Responding to this, Jaishankar said: "I am not questioning the imperfections or otherwise of their democracy or their principles or lack of it. I am questioning their understanding of our history. 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."

"So, if you take a problem and "remove all the historical context from it, sanitise it and make it into a political correctness argument", and say, 'I have principles and don't you have principles', "I have principles too, and one of them is an obligation to people who were let down at the time of Partition," he said while speaking at India Today Conclave.  

Jaishankar said he has a problem when people don't hold up a mirror to their own policies. He listed some examples where some faith were picked up, and some were left. "Have you heard of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was about Jews from the Soviet Union? So you would ask yourselves, why only Jews?"

"Then there was this Lautenberg Amendment, which was about Christians and Jews in 1989. There was Specter Amendment...there was a law which was about a particular ethnicity from Vietnam because they had fought alongside Americans, there was fast-tracking of Hungarians after the Hungarian revolution, there was fast-tracking of Cubans in the 1960s." 

"So, if you were to ask me, have other countries, other democracies, fast-tracked on the basis of ethnicity, faith, social attributes, I can give you any number of examples," the foreign minister said. 

Jaishankar then explained why the law was important and it was promised by the Indian leadership at the time of the Partition in 1947. "Now, if I were to also say, after all, why is the situation important because very often when you have something very cataclysmic, something really very major, it is not possible to deal with all the consequences right then and there. The leadership of this country had promised to these minorities, that if you have a problem, you are welcome to come to India. The leadership thereafter didn't deliver on the promise." 

The minister said many European countries fast-tracked citizenship of people who were left behind on the World War or in some cases much before the World War. "Some historical issues which were not addressed...I have a moral obligation to that community". "So, the world is full of examples, and to me the context therefore is very important," the minister said.