CAA fallout: Member of Malaysian central government coalition says PM Mahathir has overreacted

Even as Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in India has led to lot of global reactions, member of the central government coalition in Malaysia P Ramasamy has questioned the Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad and has said that he "may not have understood the purpose of the new amendment to the citizenship law in India."

Writing in Free Malaysia Today, one of the most popular websites of the south-east Asian country, Ramasamy said Mahathir Bin Mohamad may have "overreacted by saying that India should not deprive Muslims of their citizenship."

P Ramasamy is the Deputy Chief Minister of Penang state situated in northwestern peninsular Malaysia and he is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) which is part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition led by Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad.

Explaining the CAA law, Ramasamy said, "new amendment to India’s citizenship law is not about depriving Muslims of their citizenship. Far from it. The new law has nothing to do with Muslims in India."

Adding, "It is about fast-tracking citizenship for non-Muslim minorities like Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Parsis, who have been shunned and discriminated in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, countries that have declared themselves as the Islamic nation".

India has slammed Malaysian PM for his comments on the law that was passed by India's parliament in early December. 

The ministry of external affairs in a release said, "Prime Minister of Malaysia’s comment is factually inaccurate" and New Delhi "call upon Malaysia to refrain from commenting on internal developments in India, especially without a right understanding of the facts."

Malaysian PM has two times in the past few days reacted on India's CAA law. 

On Saturday morning he again commented on the law saying it is unfortunate and "to exclude Muslims from becoming citizens even by due process is unfair. Have voice our disagreement".

Mahathir was among the few global leaders, along with Turkey's President Erdoğan who were critical of New Delhi after it removed the special status for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.