The American body on religion that has urged the United States to consider sanctions against home minister Amit Shah over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill had pressed successfully for denying a visa in 2008 to prime minister Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in July 2008 had asked the U.S. State Department to reaffirm its past decision to deny a tourist visa to Modi because of his alleged role in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Earlier, even in 2005, the Commission successfully urged the State Department to revoke Modi's visa when he was scheduled to attend conferences.
Eventually, eight years later, Modi returned to the United States in 2016, this time as the prime minister of India. Modi was honoured at the White House by the then US President, Barack Obama, during a two-day official visit to Washington.
In a statement issued on Monday , the USCIRF has argued that the CAB enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion.
"The CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India's rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith," it said.
According to the proposed legislation, 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, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
India has, in turn, slammed the US government panel on religious freedom for its statement on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, saying it was "regrettable" that the entity, which has no locus standi on the issue, has chosen to be guided by its "prejudices and biases" on the matter.
