'Pyaar se samjha denge': What S Jaishankar said about new US envoy Eric Garcetti’s tough views on CAA

India welcomed Eric Garcetti as the US Ambassador to New Delhi. External Affairs minister S Jaishankar said India is looking forward to working with him to take forward the multifaceted bilateral relations.  

When Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar was asked about this at the India Today Conclave 2023, he said: “Let him come here. Pyaar se samjha denge,” replied the foreign minister with a smile.  

Garcetti, 52, has been quite vocal about the human rights situation in India. Earlier, he had spoken about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and said it was discriminatory towards Muslims.  
In 2021, when the former LA Mayor appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he made contentious remarks about the CAA in India.  He had said: “I will not only just bring it up, but it will not be something in the end as an obligation. It will be a core piece of what I will be engaging my Indian counterparts with…” 

He, during his Senate appearance, had said: “These will not just be afterthoughts for me…I have fought for human rights on 4 different continents and will be a core part of what I will pursue with my Indian counterpart.”  

Garcetti, who is a close aide of US President Joe Biden, received the confirmation to the post on Wednesday. The US Senate took over two years to decide on the nomination to the key position, which was pending since July 2021, following the change in presidency from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. 

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Talking about CAA and the debate over it, Jaishankar said: "When the law was passed in India, people made it an international debate. I went around the world and asked the countries what's citizenship status in your country? Take the United States, they have two well-known amendments, the Lautenberg Amendment Act and Specter amendment, which actually single out specific communities and specific faiths, and give them a faster pathway in terms of giving away citizenship. This is not just US if you look at Europe, Germany has a faster pathway for those who have German descent than others." 

Jaishankar quipped that common sense should not become subservient to political correctness.

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