Jagdeep Dhankhar slams ‘people in world’ lecturing India on judicial behaviour, CAA

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday took exception to people in the world trying to lecture India on its judicial mechanism, in the wake of the US and Germany commenting on the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Jagdeep Dhankhar also said a narrative is being created on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act using official platforms.

Speaking at the American Bar Association (ABA) India Conference 2024, Jagdeep Dhankhar said India has a robust judicial mechanism.

"There are people in the world who want to lecture us on our judicial behaviour," he said.

He also stressed that the CAA aimed to provide relief to those persecuted on religious grounds in neighbouring countries, emphasising that no one was being deprived of citizenship despite the contrary narrative.

“How can an observation on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act be made in ignorance of ground reality? We are considering the humanitarian aspect, a reprieve to those who have been persecuted on religious grounds in our neighbourhood. No one is being deprived. We are not inviting people to benefit from it. benefit of this is being given to those who have been in this country for over a decade,” Jagdeep Dhankhar said.

“Someone from a sovereign platform, ignorant of ground realities, is trying to teach us a lesson that this is discriminatory ... Let us rebuff their ignorance,” Dhankhar added.

Some Western countries have questioned the law, rules of which were notified recently. The vice-president urged people to have a firm commitment towards nationalism.

"We are not a nation to get scriptures from others," Dhankhar asserted.

Dhankhar said the CAA has a cutoff date of 2014, emphasising that it is not an invitation for people to exploit its provisions. "Benefit of this is being given to whom? Who are already in this country? They have been in this country for over a decade."

Speaking as the chief guest at the 2nd edition of the American Bar Association Spring Conference in Delhi, Dhankhar stressed India's longstanding history of providing refuge to various religious communities. He said the country needed to refute those who try to lecture without understanding the ground realities.

"We are not a nation to get scriptures from others. We are a nation with a civilisational ethos of more than 5000 years. Look at the motto of G20: One Earth One Family One Future. We did not coin it for G20. It is the nectar of our civilisational worth, embedded in our ethos," the V-P said.

Reflecting on India's economic transformation from being one of the fragile five to the big five, Dhankhar raised doubts about the previous administration's track record, which often propagated negativity. “My heart hurts when someone who was in a position of power in this country, in the field of economics, spread only pessimism,” he said.

Attorney general of India R Venkataramani, solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta, Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) president Lalit Bhasin, chair of the India Committee at ABA Pratibha Jain, along with other guests, were present on the occasion.