Reacting to United States president Joe Biden's 'xenophobia' remark against India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India's society has always been "open" to people from other societies. 

He said the Central government's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) opens doors "for people who are in trouble".

"That's why we have the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), which is to open up doors for people who are in trouble... I think we should be open to people who have the need to come to India, who have a claim to come to India," he said in an interview with the Economic Times.

On May 2, President Biden had said "You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants. We look to the reason (behind this)...think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants."

The US President said this while campaigning for his re-election for the US Presidency at a fundraising event in Washington.