An Indian- American has suggested in renaming the Citizenship Amendment Act as the Neighbor Persecuted Religious Minority Refugee Act as he says that renaming would establish a right perception regarding the act.
The remarks that have been made by Khanderao Kand who is the director of the non- profit organization Foundation of India and the Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) has come in the wake of the widespread protests that have been held against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), across India.
Khanderao Khand has said that the Citizenship Amendment Act has to be renamed as Neighbor Persecuted Religious Minority Refugee Act, in a panel discussion regarding the citizenship law that has been amended and the abrogation of article 370 in a Virginia suburb of Washington DC on Tuesday.
He said that renaming the Citizenship Amendment Act as a refugee act would establish the correct perception which would in turn be difficult to challenge for the opponents and that the Neighbor Persecuted Religious Minority Refugee Act would have been appropriate as the act seeks to give citizenship to the refugees but will not be taking away anyone’s citizenship.
Nissim Reuben who is an Indian- born and an assistant director of the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Asia Pacific Institute has mentioned that India is being correct regarding the actions that it has been taking but is being short in building the right perception and also in emphasizing on the need of India and the diaspora of India in order to engage in the public awareness campaigns.
Dr Vijay Sazawal who is an India- born policy analyst and also a founding member and the former president of the Indo- American Kashmir Forum has said that the constitutional provision under which the trifurcation of Kashmir which is diving the state of Jammu and Kashmir into Union territories withe Jammu and Kashmir as one union territory and the other union territory being Ladakh has been done has already been used by the government of India in the past and therefore there would exist a precedent that will stand in any judicial scrutiny.
The Citizenship Amendment Act that has been passed by the government of India seeks to provide the citizenship of India to all the non-Muslim communities I.e., the Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddists from the three neighboring nations being Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan who have been religious persecution there and who have come to India on or before the 31st of December in the year 2014.
