Indian-Americans hold events in support of CAA at New York's Times Square

Indian-Americans in New York held events in support of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which has caused a stir in the country. Members of Indian diaspora said that the CAA is a historic step taken by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They gathered at Times Square holding placards and raising slogans in support of Modi government and the CAA.

People held placards at the Times Square reading ‘We Support Citizenship Amendment Act’, ‘CAA is about human rights’, ‘NRIs support CAA’, ‘CAA passed by transparent and democratic process’. Some of the members even used the name of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi to justify CAA and raised slogans of ‘We support Modi’ and ‘We support CAA’.

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On December 28, an event, in support of CAA, was organised by the members of the Indian-American community in Long Island. Jagdish Sewhani, President of the American India Public Affairs Committee, said that the Indian-American community thanks Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the decisions taken in the second term, including the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and CAA.

Read: Anti-CAA Protests: Congress Demands Judicial Probe Into 'unlawful Conduct' Of UP Police

Modi urges to support CAA

Earlier today, PM Modi took to Twitter to assert that the CAA is about giving citizenship to persecuted refugees and not about taking anyone’s citizenship away. He urged people to use the hashtag #IndiaSupportsCAA and show support for the act. PM Modi also shared a video of Jaggi Vasudev aka Sadhguru, founder of Isha Foundation, explaining the historical context of the contentious act.

According to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014, will get Indian citizenship. There have been several protests across the country against the act which implicitly excludes Muslims in the latest amendment.

Read: CAA Divisive, Dangerous For Country: Amarinder Singh

Read: Rahul Gandhi Urges Congress Netas To Meet & Assist Families Of Anti-CAA Protest Casualties

(With inputs from agencies)