NEW DELHI: The Citizenship Amendment Act continues to be a bane for India on the global stage with the latest embarrassment coming in the form of an intervention plea filed by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) in the Supreme Court.
According to experts and foreign diplomats, the move will result in a major loss of face for India at the global stage. “Since Parliament passed the CAA, there have been a host of leaders and organisations that have spoken out against it calling it discriminatory. Even internally, the government has faced backlash from citizens in the form of protests,” a senior researcher at the Indian Council for World Affairs said.
A host of leaders like former Malaysian prime minister Mahatir Mohamad and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan have voiced their concerns against the CAA, calling it discriminatory. A draft resolution, signed by over 600 Members of European Parliament (MEPs), against the Act also was debated at the European Parliament on which voting was deferred to the next plenary. Resolutions against the Act have also been passed by two US city councils. India has reacted to these comments saying the CAA was entirely an internal affair.
“The government has been trying to explain to the world that the CAA is in people’s best interest but the loss of face the Centre is facing due to it is something which it was not prepared for. Now with the UN human rights body also expressing concern over the CAA, India will have to answer a lot of questions on the global platform,” Ajit Singh, a research scholar at the Institute of Conflict Management said.
‘International Image may take a beating’
A former ambassador to China said, “At the global level, India is known to uphold values of human rights and is often cited as an example. But with UNHCHR’s concerns, India’s image will definitely take a beating.”