The largest city of Washington, Seattle has put forth its word regarding the the new controversial citizenship law of India and also its proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Seattle city has raised its voice against the citizenship law of India which has been recently amended and also against the National Register of Citizens. A resolution has been passed by the City Council of Seattle condemning the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and opposing the National Register Citizens, late on 3rd of February.
Kshama Sawant who is an Indian American and a member o0f the Seattle City Council has introduced the Resolution 31926 earlier this year, making Seattle the first city in the United States to do so.
The Citizenship Amendment Act that has been passed by the government of India seeks in providing the citizenship of India to the non-Muslim refugees I.e., Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddists from the three neighboring countries namely Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan who have been facing religious persecution there and who have come to India on or before 31st of December 2014.
The amendment of the citizenship law has led to several protests being conducted with people supporting the citizenship law where as the others opposing and being against the citizenship law that has been passed by the government of India.
The people protesting against the citizenship law state that has been passed is violative of the Constitution of India as it says India is a secular country by the citizenship law that has been passed excludes the Muslim community in providing the citizenship of India.
Prior to the vote on the resolution, Kshama Sawant has said that by approving the resolution, the city council would go on a record and would oppose the religious persecutions and Islamophobia, which is the discrimination, scapegoating and oppression of the Muslim community, poor people and the marginalized communities by the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP which is a Hindu fundamentalist regime and Narendra Modi who is the Prime Minister of India.
Tammy Morales who is the colleague of Sawant on the council has said, “ It is important that we stand up for human dignity, for the right of people to find refuge from violence regardless of the religion.”
The Seattle Council has been charged on Monday as it had to consider the resolution with both the supporters of Citizenship Amendment Act and the people against the Citizenship Amendment Act voicing their stands.
The city of Seattle has finally chose to pass the resolution which says that a precedent should be set for the other states to follow, according to many human rights activists.
The vote that has been posed on Monday in the City Council has affirmed Seattle as a welcoming city and the solidarity of the City Council with Seattle’s South Asian community has also been expressed regardless of religion and caste, according to the organizations that are backing the resolution.
The resolution that has been taken by Seattle has been gaining a growing support with local organizations API Chaya, Tasveer, IAMC Seattle, CAIR Washington, Seattle South Asians Building Accountability & Healing, Khalsa Gurmat Center Federal Way and the Seattle LGBTQ Commission joining national organizations Equility Labs, Amnesty International USA and the Ambedkar King Study Circle.
