Only three apply for Indian citizenship under CAA in Assam!

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: There has been a ruckus in the state over the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The ground reality in the state, however, remains that only three people have applied for Indian citizenship in the state under this Act so far.

In March this year, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) framed rules for the CAA and sought applications online from people who had to leave Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan on or before March 31, 2014, and enter India due to religious persecution.

According to official sources, following a directive from the MHA, the state government formed state and district-level empowered committees to receive online applications and supporting documents for Indian citizenship.

According to sources, the religiously persecuted people who entered Assam from Pakistan and Afghanistan came with long-term visas or other travel documents. However, religiously persecuted people who entered Assam from Bangladesh, especially Hindu Bangealis, have no such documents that can prove that they came from Bangladesh. The lack of such proofs stands as a major hurdle for them to apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA. The majority of such people who came to Assam at that time stayed as refugees. So far, only three people have applied for Indian citizenship under the provisions of the CAA from the state. 

According to official sources, the state government has taken up the matter seriously with the MHA to sort it out. The state government hopes that the MHA will find a way to solve the problem. The persecuted non-Muslim migrants from the three neighbouring countries comprise Hindus, Shikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians.

After framing the rules for CAA in March, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that ‘the CAA is completely insignificant in Assam, where the applicants will be around three to five lakhs, and not what some sections claimed to be twenty to thirty lakhs’. The Chief Minister also ascertained that the applicants would comprise only those who were excluded from the updated NRC. He pointed out that around seven lakh Muslims and five lakh Hindu Bengalis, among others, were left off the NRC list.

Also Read: CAA will hit demography, economy and resources of NE states, believes CPI-M (sentinelassam.com)

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