"We Are Considering Humanitarian Aspect": Vice President On Citizenship Law CAA

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed his strong disapproval of the use of sovereign platforms for making ignorant observations about CAA.

Emphasising that CAA is meant to give reprieve to those persecuted on religious grounds in our neighbourhood, VP Dhankar highlighted that none is being deprived of citizenship and still the narrative is so different.

"How can an observation on the Citizenship Amendment Act be made in ignorance of ground reality? We are considering the humanitarian aspect, a reprieve to those who have been persecuted on religious grounds in our neighbourhood. No one is being deprived. We are not inviting people to benefit from it. Benefit of this is being given to those who have been in this country for over a decade," the VP said while addressing the American Bar Association (ABA) India Conference 2024.

Referring to the 2014 cutoff date for citizenship under CAA, the Vice President said that we are not inviting people to take advantage of it. "Benefit of this is being given to whom? Who are already in this country. They have been in this country for over a decade," he stressed.

Addressing the 2nd edition of the American Bar Association Spring Conference as chief guest in Delhi, Mr Dhankhar highlighted the long history of India giving refuge to many religious communities.

The Vice-President said that those trying to teach lessons to us while being ignorant about ground realities must be rebuffed.

Underscoring the structured democratic tradition in India right from parliament to panchayat level, the Vice-President objected to the remarks made by some from sovereign platforms about India's institutions. "We are not a nation to get scriptures from others," Mr Dhankhar stated.

"We are a nation with a civilisational ethos of more than 5000 years. Look at the motto of G20: One Earth One Family One Future. We did not coin it for G20. It is the nectar of our civilisational worth, embedded in our ethos!," he added.

VP further said, "There are some countries, from several platforms, they want to teach us what democracy is?" and asked the youth to speak against such things on social media and other platforms.

He called upon the young minds to enlighten the countries, trying to teach us lessons out of their ignorance, to engage in diligence.

Tracing the economic journey of India from fragile five to big five, the Vice-President questioned those who had been in power but only spread pessimism. " My heart hurts when someone who was in a position of power in this country, in the field of economics, spread only pessimissim," he added.

R Venkataramani, Attorney General of India, Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), Pratibha Jain, Chair, India Committee, ABA and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

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