No country says everybody is welcome: Jaishankar

New Delhi: Amid ongoing protests over the amended Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday defended the controversial legislation and said no country in the world says everybody is welcome.

"Everybody, when they look at citizenship, has a context and has a criterion. Show me a country in the world which says everybody in the world is welcome. Nobody says that," Jaishankar said while speaking at a business summit.

"We have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through this legislation. That should be appreciated. We have done it in a way that we do not create a bigger problem for ourselves," Jaishankar added.

Jaishankar criticised the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its criticism on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, saying its director had been wrong previously too and one should look at the UN body's past record on handling the Kashmir issue.

"We have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through this legislation. That should be appreciated," he said when asked about the CAA. "We have done it in a way that we do not create a bigger problem for ourselves."

The External Affairs minister said moving out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was in the interest of India's business.