After LS Passes Citizenship Amendment Bill, US Commission Suggests Sanctions Against Amit Shah

Stating that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday is a "dangerous turn in the wrong direction" the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has sought American sanctions against India's Home Minister Amit Shah.?

"If the CAB passes in both houses of Parliament, the US government should consider sanctions against the home minister Amit Shah and other principal leadership," the commission said.?

"USCIRF is 'deeply troubled' by the passage of the CAB, originally introduced by home minister Shah, in the Lok Sabha given the religion criterion in the bill," it added.?

This is the same USCIRF that in 2008 recommended the denial of a US Visa to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots in the state.

India from the days of the previous UPA governments has consistently rejected the USCIRF reports and said that it does not recognize a third country's views or reports on its internal affairs.

The development came hours after the Lower House of the Indian Parliament passed the contentious bill with 311 members favouring it and 80 MPs voting against it. The bill will now have to be passed in the Rajya Sabha before it becomes a law.?

The bill aims to provide Indian citizenship to members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there.?

The bill which specifically omits out Muslim illegal immigrants from the citizenship criteria has been criticized for targeting the community.?

Home Minister Amit Shah Shah while introducing the bill had made it clear that people belonging to any religion should not have any fear under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government as he asserted that the bill will give relief to those minorities who have been living a painful life after facing persecution in neighbouring countries.?

He also asserted that the bill has the "endorsement of 130 crore Indian citizens" and rejected suggestions that the measure is anti-Muslims, saying it will give rights to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan."Citizenship amendment bill has the endorsement of 130 crore citizens of the country as it was the part of the BJP manifesto in 2014 as well as 2019 Lok Sabha elections," he said.?

CAB has been a contentious issue, especially in the north-eastern states which share a boundary with Bangladesh and has a large illegal immigrant population there. They argue that granting citizenship to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh will make the indigenous communities a minority in their own land.?

The Shiv Sena which had backed the bill in Lok Sabha had said that since the CAB has left out north-eastern states, the government should spell out in which states would the refugees getting citizenship will be settled and argued that refugees getting citizenship under the CAB should not be granted voting rights for 25 years.