BJP MP slams USCIRF for remarks on CAB, demands resolution in Lok Sabha

BJP leader Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday slammed the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its remarks against Home Minister Amit Shah over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and said the Lok Sabha should pass a resolution to send a strong message to the US.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Dubey cited media reports and said the USCIRF has talked of imposing sanctions against Home Minister Amit Shah and it was "an attack on the country's sovereignty."

He said the country works according to the Constitution and the Home Minister had taken steps to strengthen the unity and integrity of the country.

He said the Bill brought by Home Minister was aimed at making refugees citizens and it was a right of parliament.

Referring to opposition benches, he said the issue was not partisan.

"Today we are in government, tomorrow you will be. You will make law and if another country says such things to your home minister, prime minister.. it is shameful for us, for the country," he said.

He said political parties should pass a resolution to send a strong message to the US that "such incident" does not happen again and there should not be interference in India's internal affairs.

The USCIRF, a US federal government commission, had in a statement on Tuesday condemned the Bill.

It deemed the Bill as a "dangerous turn in the wrong direction" and sought US sanctions against Home Minister Amit Shah "and other principal Indian leadership" if the bill with the "religious criterion" is passed by both houses of Parliament.

India had condemned the "inaccurate" and "unwarranted" comments made by USCIRF and said that the Bill aims at providing expedited consideration for Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from "contiguous" countries.

It said the bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, should be "welcomed not criticised".

The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.