New Delhi: The United States on Thursday said it is concerned about the notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act’s (CAA) rules in India. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US is closely monitoring the act’s implementation.
“We are concerned about the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on March 11,” Miller said in a response to a question at a daily briefing.
“We are closely monitoring how this act will be implemented. Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government on Monday implemented CAA, the law that paves the way for citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014. The development came four years after Parliament passed the law in December 2019.
The notification of the Act triggered criticism from Opposition leaders, who claimed that the notified rules were “unconstitutional”, “discriminatory” and violative of the “secular principle of citizenship” enshrined in the Constitution.
