Daily Times

The Modi government is coming under increasing pressure from the world over the enactment of the controversial Citizen Amendment Law and ensuing sectarian and ethnic violence in New Delhi under the alleged patronage of the Bharati Janata Party. In one such significant move, Sikh MPs Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Preet Gill Kaur, members of United Kingdom parliament, who have Indian origin, have raised concern over the Delhi violence demanding the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to come up with details of its talks with the Indian government on this subject. Condemning the Indian government, Labour MP Dhesi likened the recent sectarian violence to the 1984 genocide of the Sikhs, sharing the painful memories of those days when he was a student in India. Recalling the cruel cycle of history, the MP said the world must learn from history that the BJP’s aim was to destroy religious places and kill people in the name of religion. “I ask the minister, what message has he given to his Indian counterpart [regarding] that persecution of Indian Muslims?”

Minister of State at FCO Nigel Adams has promised to stand up to violence in the name of religion, adding that the British high commission in New Delhi and others across India were monitoring the recent violence and developments around the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019.

The Indian government must also be feeling the heat from an application from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a UN body, filed in the Indian Supreme Court against the CAA. The Indian government’s response, as expected to the UN body and UK MPs’ demands would be unwarranted interference into its internal matters. Internally, 140 petitions have been filed against the CAA which discriminates against immigrants on the basis of their religion. Though it is very unlikely that the court would allow the UN high commission to present its views, the Indian government must note that the salutary provisions of international conventions reject such discriminatory laws. It is just a matter of time before the Modi government is standing in the court of international law for its anti-Muslim approach. Indian opposition along with civil society has spoken against the exploitation of religion and nationalism by the Modi government. The recent developments by the UN body and UK parliament are going to wake the whole world. *