Om Birla writes to EU Parliament president, terms draft anti-CAA resolutions as 'inappropriate'

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has written a letter to European Parliament President David Maria Sassoli over the draft resolutions that have been tabled by some of its members on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying that it is inappropriate for one legislature to pass judgment on another, a practice that can surely be misused by vested interests.

Sources said the Speaker in his letter has noted that the Act provides for granting "easier citizenship to those who have been subjected to religious persecution in our immediate neighbourhood."

It is not aimed at taking away citizenship from anybody, instead, the legislation was passed after "due deliberation by both the Houses of the Indian Parliament," the letter reads.

It added that as members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, "we should respect the sovereign processes of fellow legislatures, especially in democracies."

"It is inappropriate for one legislature to pass judgment on another, a practice that can surely be misused by vested interests. I would urge you to consider the proposed resolution in this light, confident that none of us wants to set an unhealthy precedent," adds the letter.

The European Parliament will discuss the draft resolution on CAA during a plenary session on Wednesday and will vote on January 30.

India adopted the CAA in December last year that grants citizenship rights to the persecuted minorities of neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

The five-page resolution, drafted by 154 members of the European Parliament, describes the CAA as "discriminatory" and "dangerously divisive" and also a "violation of India's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."

It also called the CAA "explicitly discriminatory in nature" as it excludes Muslims from having access to the same provisions as other religious groups.