The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) criticized the bill and called for sanctions[98] against Amit Shah and "other principal leadership" over passage of the Bill on 9 December 2019.[99][100] The Ministry of External Affairs (India) issued a statement in response, stating that the statement made by the USCIRF was "neither accurate nor warranted", and stating that neither the CAB nor the NRC sought to strip Indian citizens of citizenship.[101]