BOSTON—Despite an effort by a group of Indian Americans to stop the Seattle City Council from passing a resolution against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the City Council has passed a resolution condemning CAA, which fast tracks Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities in three theocratic states in South Asia.
Seattle City Council is the first legislative body in the United States to condemn CAA and National Registry of Citizens, or NRC.
The resolution was titled: “A RESOLUTION reaffirming Seattle as a welcoming city, expressing the Seattle City Council’s solidarity with Seattle’s South Asian community regardless of religion and caste, and opposing India’s National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act.” The resolution was sponsored by Kshama Sawant.
To read the full resolution, click here.
The Indian American Muslim Council in the United States welcomed the Seattle City Council’s unanimous resolution against CAA, which was recently enacted by the Modi government and National Registry of Citizens (NRC) which the government aspires to set up.
Officials in New Delhi, however, maintained the government’s stand on CAA, saying the legislation was passed by the Indian Parliament which represents the democratically elected legislature of the country, and therefore remains an internal matter of India.
Last month, Archana Sunil, a health and medicare insurance advisor in Greater Settale, WA had launched a petition to the Seattle City Council, urging the council to reject Council member Kshama Sawant’s resolution against India.
“The Indian community in the United States would like the Seattle City Council to vote against Council Member Sawant’s resolution against India that she is planning to pass on Jan 21st. Ms. Sawant is severely misguided, misinformed, indulging in spreading divisive and dangerous lies about India and interfering in the internal matters of another country,” the petition had said. “It is unfortunate that Council Member Sawant is misinformed about the history, the urgent need for and the future humanitarian impacts of India’s recent Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed democratically and is one of the most generous human rights acts passed in that region.” (Wire Services)
