On US rhetoric on CAA, S Jaishankar cites ‘many examples’

S Jaishankar also responded to Washington’s criticism of CAA.

New Delhi:

Amid criticism of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the US and other parts of the world, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said it was important to put it in the context of Partition, stressing that “there are some” Examples of having fast-track citizenship”.

During an interaction at the India Today Conclave 2024 on Saturday, he also answered questions about an Indian national facing murder-for-hire charges for plotting the murder of a Khalistan separatist on US soil The accusations, and the impact on U.S.-India relations, U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti said a day earlier.

“You continue to exploit India and Canada seamlessly for a variety of reasons, and I would draw the line there. Most notably, U.S. politics is not, for all intents and purposes, free of the violent extremist views and activities that Canada is doing Providing that space. So I don’t think it’s fair to America to conflate them. I would differentiate between the two,” Jaishankar said.

Relations between India and Canada were strained last year over allegations related to the killing of Khalistani separatist and terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the Canadian city of Surrey in June. India denies the accusation, calling it “ridiculous and motivated”.

Jaishankar also responded to criticism of the CAA from Washington and other parts of the world.

The United States on Thursday said it was concerned about India’s CAA notification and was closely monitoring its implementation.

“Look, I’m not questioning their democracy, their principles or the lack of democratic imperfections or anything. I’m questioning their understanding of our history. If you hear comments from many parts of the world, that It is as if the partition of India never happened and there are no subsequent issues that the Civil Aviation Authority should address,” Jaishankar said.

So if you pose a question, “take away all the historical context, sanitize it, make it an argument for political correctness” and say, “I have principles and you don’t”, “I also have principles”, one of them It is an obligation towards the people who were disappointed at Partition. And, I think the Home Secretary spoke very eloquently about that yesterday,” he added.

The principles of religious freedom and equality before the law are cornerstones of democracy, Garcetti said in response to a question about the CAA during a panel discussion at Friday’s conclave.

“And, that’s why we focus on these things, it’s easier not to focus on our friends. We invite you to do the same with our imperfect democracy, it’s not a one-way street. But, you can’t give up on principle, no matter what How close you are to your friends…” he said.

In response to criticism of CAA, Jaishankar cited “some examples” to illustrate his point.

He said he had problems when people didn’t follow their own policies, citing the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, the Lautenberg Amendment, the Ghost Amendment and the “regarding Jews from the Soviet Union” Fast Tracking of the Hungarians”. The Hungarian Revolution, the Rapid Development of the Cubans in the 1960s.”

“So if you ask me if other countries, other democracies, have fast tracked on the basis of race, creed, social attributes, I can give you many examples,” the minister said.

He attempts to narrate the background of the Partition of India in 1947, which split the Indian subcontinent into the two independent states of India and Pakistan and resulted in massive bloodshed that led to mass cross-border migration.

“Now, if I were to say further, why does the situation matter, after all, is because a lot of times when you have something very catastrophic, something very significant, it’s not possible to deal with all the consequences at once.

“The leadership of this country promised these minorities that if you have problems, you are welcome to come to India. The leadership has not kept its promise since then,” he added.

“This is not just our predicament,” Jaishankar said. “If you look at Europe, many European countries offered fast-track citizenship to people who were left behind in the world wars, or in some cases, long before the world wars. There are some historical issues that are not being addressed.” ..I have a moral obligation to that community.”

“So, there are a lot of examples of this in the world, so for me context is very important,” the minister said.

Regarding the upcoming US elections, the federal minister said, “We are ready for whatever happens.”

“We’ve actually built a very broad culture of engagement and relationship-building… We were engaged with the top brass of the Trump campaign long before the results came in in November 2016. Because, here’s the thing That’s it. It’s not going to be a hypothetical tomorrow,” he said.

The minister said that because the U.S.-India relationship is “very important,” this is the only way to manage it.

He also shared India’s approach to the issue of an Indian national accused of plotting the murder of a Khalistani separatist on US soil.

“Yes, the United States has shared some information with us, some of which is in the public domain and some of which is not. And, our interest is also to investigate it because it seems to us that there is a very strong organized crime that also affects Our own safety.

“So when we were informed of this information, we decided to set up a very powerful committee of competent people to look into what is an ongoing issue,” Jaishankar said.

He also gave some light-hearted answers when asked about the use of social media and diplomacy.

“Look, I’m getting paid to fix foreign policy, I’m not getting paid to fix social media,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.

“To be honest, no one can fix social media. The nature of the platform is such that everything you state with some disapproval is actually going to attract more eyeballs on social media,” Jaishankar said.

He said he thought it was a very angular medium, but one that people could fight against fairly quickly.

“We (MEA) have also adapted to the times… which require short, sharp, impactful expressions (on social media) before we can step out of our, shall we say old comfort zones and adjust ourselves React this way,” said the minister, who has a large following on X.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)