'Very Sad': Congress' Tewari delivers withering takedown as LS Speaker Birla writes to EU

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Tuesday took a jibe at the BJP-led Central government over the European Parliament's proposed resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Taking to the microblogging site, Tewari said criticised the Centre's move of inviting the European delegation to review the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Tewari also said that it is very sad that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has been put in an 'unenviable position' over this issue.

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Om Birla writes to EU 

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday wrote to the Speaker of the European Union as the European Parliament prepared to debate six resolutions against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In a letter to the European Parliament President David Maria Sassoli, Birla pointed out that such a resolution would set an "unhealthy precedent" and wrote, "It is inappropriate for a legislature to pass judgement on another, a practice that can be surely misused for vested interests".

“As members of Inter-Parliamentary Union, we should respect sovereign processes of fellow legislatures,” he wrote. The Lok Sabha Speaker also wrote that CAA has been passed with due deliberation in both houses of parliament. "This Act provides for granting easier citizenship to those who have been subjected to religious persecution in our immediate neighbourhood. It is not aimed at taking away citizenship from anybody," the letter read.

European Parliament moves anti-CAA resolution

Accusing the government of "discriminating against, harassing and prosecuting national and religious minorities and silencing any opposition, human rights groups... and journalists critical of the government", a contingent of EU lawmakers had asked their Parliament to insist on a "strong human rights clause with an effective implementation and suspension mechanism" during any trade agreement, as per reports. The resolutions are likely to be tabled during the session of the European Parliament that starts next week in Brussels. PM Modi is expected to visit Brussels in March for the India-European Union Summit.  

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There has been no reaction from the Ministry of External Affairs on the resolutions against the CAA in European Parliament. Official sources, however, maintained that the CAA was an entirely internal matter of India and that the legislation was adopted through democratic means after a debate in both houses of Parliament. "Every society that fashions a pathway to naturalisation contemplates both a context and criteria. This is not discrimination," a government source said, explaining why India is opposed to the resolutions at the EU parliament. 

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