India on Sunday reacted strongly to six resolutions drafted by the European Parliament lawmakers on India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which would be tabled and debated next Wednesday and voted on the day after.

The formidable number of 626 of the 751 members of the EU Parliament has come out in a scathing denouncement of not only the CAA but also the issue of Kashmir in its draft resolutions (numbering from B9-0077/2020 to B9-0082/2020).

In response to the draft resolution ahead of a vote on a resolution against India's new citizenship law, the Indian government sources said the EU Parliament should not take actions that call into question the rights and authority of democratically elected legislatures.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a matter entirely internal to India and the law was adopted through democratic means after a public debate in both houses of Parliament, they said.

"The CAA is a matter that is entirely internal to India. Moreover, this legislation has been adopted by due process and through democratic means after a public debate in both Houses of Parliament," the official sources said.

India, on its part, has asked the proposers of the resolution to "engage" with New Delhi before taking any drastic call on CAA and Kashmir.

"We hope the sponsors and supporters of the draft will engage with us to get a full and accurate assessment of the facts before they proceed further," a source said.

The European Parliament is set to debate and vote on a resolution tabled by some of its members against the CAA which it says marks a "dangerous shift" in the country's citizenship regime.

A total of six resolutions have been tabled by groups within the European Union (EU), including the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) (PPE), Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Verts/ALE), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), Renew Europe Group (Renew) and European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group.

The decision on the citizenship law could trigger the "largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause widespread human suffering, warns one of the documents.

The CAA marks a dangerous shift in the way citizenship will be determined in India and is set to create the largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause immense human suffering, notes one of the resolutions.

The Indian government has stressed that the new Act does not deny any citizenship rights but has been brought in to protect the oppressed minorities of the neighbouring countries and provide them citizenship.

Not only does it denounce the December decision of the Indian administration but also raises questions regarding Kashmir.

One of the resolutions goes to the extent of not just expressing "deep concern" but also "condemns the unilateral changes made to the status of Kashmir by India; asks both sides to implement the recommendations of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) report on Kashmir".

The draft resolutions against the CAA make a reference to the Charter of the United Nations, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as the India-EU Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan signed in November 2005, and to the EU-India Thematic Dialogue on Human Rights as it urges the Indian authorities to "engage constructively" with those protesting against the Act and consider their demands to repeal the "discriminatory CAA".

"The CAA marks a dangerous shift in the way citizenship will be determined in India and is set to create the largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause immense human suffering," notes the GUE/NGL draft.

This comes at a time when India is reeling under massive protests against the Citizenship Act, the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). How the protests have been handled by the Modi government has also been criticised in the draft resolution.

"Instead of addressing the concerns, offering corrective action, calling for security forces to act with restraint and ensuring accountability, many government leaders have been engaging in efforts to discredit, rebuke and threaten the protesters," the resolution states.

Sources say that before sitting on a judgment against the Modi government, many European nations should reflect on their own decisions related to curbing illegal immigration.

"Every society that fashions a pathway to naturalisation, contemplates both a context and criteria. This is not discrimination. In fact, the European societies have followed the same approach," a source said.

The amended Citizenship Act has expedited the path to citizenship for six minority religious communities (barring Muslims) from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered India before December 31, 2014.

The draft resolutions (numbering from B9-0077/2020 to B9-0082/2020) are due to be taken up during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels on January 29 for discussion and January 30 for a vote.

The decision in the European Parliament could have an adverse impact on the ties that have not been on a strong footing.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during her visit to India last year, had also raised concerns regarding the situation in Kashmir, calling it "not sustainable" and "not good", following which there have been discussions on the issue at the EU.

This is the first set of resolutions against the CAA. The earlier discussions were based on the Indian government's August 5 decision to abrogate certain provisions of Article 370 on Kashmir.