New Delhi: Strongly defending the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday asserted that no country in the world says everybody is welcome. He further said that CAA aims to reduce the number of stateless people and the move should be appreciated instead of being criticised.
“We have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through this legislation. That should be appreciated,” the minister said when asked about the CAA at the ET Global Business Summit.
“We have done it in a way that we do not create a bigger problem for ourselves,” he added.
Referring to the citizenship laws of other countries, Jaishankar said, “Everybody, when they look at citizenship, has a context and has a criterion. Show me a country in the world which says everybody in the world is welcome. Nobody says that.”
Asked about the UNHRC director not agreeing with India on the Kashmir issue, Jaishankar said: “UNHRC director has been wrong before.
“UNHRC skirts around cross-border terrorism as if it has nothing to do with the country next door. Please understand where they are coming from; look at UNHRC’s record how they handled Kashmir issue in past,” he added.
On RCEP, the external affairs minister said moving out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was in the interest of India’s business.
