In Washington, Jaishankar shares India’s view on CAA with US Lawmakers

External
affairs minister S. Jaishankar shared the Indian government’s point of view on
the Citizenship Amendment Act with US lawmakers, even as the US administration
indicated that they would keep an eye but will remain in the background, while
the judicial review process and internal debate over the legislation is
underway.

After the
second India-US ‘2+2’ dialogue, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had said that
US “cares deeply and always about protecting minorities and religious rights
everywhere”. “We honour Indian democracy as they have a strong debate on the
issue that u raise. US will be consistent in the way we respond to this issue,
not only in India, but all over the world,” Pomepo said in answer to a question
at the press interaction.

Jaishankar
and defence minister Rajnath Singh had travelled to Washington meet with their
counterparts, Secretary of State Pompeo and US Defence secretary Mark Esper
respectively.

Jaishankar
also met with the key people in the House Foreign relations committee (HFAC),
including Democrat representative Brad Sherman and Indian-American lawmaker Ami
Bera.

The US
administration has not made any direct criticism of the Act, but has urged
India to protect the rights of its religious minorities in keeping with India’s
Constitution and democratic values. The US ambassador at large for
international religious freedom, Sam Brownback had expressed concern about the
implications of CAA in a tweet dated December 14.