Debate on CAA in European Parliament Today

A final joint resolution on India's citizenship actis ready for debate in the European Parliament on Wednesday and Thursday, whichhas been put forward by 560 of the parliament's 751 MPs. A vote could takeplace tomorrow afternoon on the resolution that says the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) is discriminatory and dangerously divisive.

The five different groups of MPs who put up theresolution, calls on the government of India to engage with various sections ofthe population in peaceful dialogue and to repeal what it calls thediscriminatory amendments, which violates India's international obligations. Itwarns against increasing nationalism which has resulted in the fueling ofreligious intolerance and discrimination against Muslims.

The MPs express worry that the National Register ofCitizens (NRC)- an exercise to identify illegal immigrants marks a dangerousshift in the way citizenship will be determined in India, and may create alarge-scale statelessness crisis and cause immense human suffering.

The resolution also states that the "protests thatbroke out around India, particularly on university campuses, in response to theadoption of the CAA were met with a brutal crackdown by security forces."

The resolution also makes a specific reference tothe arrest of human rights activists like Akhil Gogoi and Sadaf Jafar.

Indian officials have said the CAA is an internalmatter of India and that the law was passed by India's democratically electedparliament. The government has also denied emphatically that the law isdiscriminatory and says it only seeks to fast-track citizenship for persecutedminorities.

European Parliament resolutions don't affect thedecisions of the European Council or European Commission, but the timing isawkward, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to visit Brussels in March foran India-EU summit.