The Centre on May 15 granted the first batch of citizenship certificates to over 300 people under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the event coming in the middle of a high-stakes general election where the controversial law is a livewire campaign issue in key provinces.
Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla handed over the certificates to the 14 individuals at a ceremony in Delhi after their applications were processed online through a designated portal. Officials familiar with the developments said several hundred other certificates– at least 300 in all – were sent to eligible persons through email on May 15.
“Home secretary congratulated the applicants and highlighted salient features of the citizenship (amendment) rules, 2024,” the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said in a statement.
The process of verification and granting of citizenship will continue over the next few weeks as and when the applications are decided by the empowered committee formed by MHA to look into citizenship requests.
“Although I had been living here since 2013, today I feel I belong to this country. I can now freely call it my own and roam anywhere without any fear,” said Seetal Das, a 38-year-old refugee from Sindh in Pakistan who now lives in north Delhi’s Manju ka Tilla and was among the first people to receive the citizenship certificate.
Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered on another commitment – referring to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slogan ‘Modi Ki guarantee’ – Union home minister Amit Shah said it was a historic day as the decades-long wait of those who faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan was now over.
“I express my gratitude to Modiji for giving justice and rights to these people who suffered for decades. I also assure all my refugee brothers and sisters that the Modi government will give citizenship to all of them through the CAA,” Shah said on X in Hindi.
He added that the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christians who fled religious persecution in the three countries have started getting Indian citizenship and Modi has fulfilled the promise made at the time of the country’s independence.
The Opposition did not immediately react to the development. At a rally in Chinsurah, Hooghly district, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on May 15th vowed to repeal, among other controversial laws, the CAA and added that the TMC will support the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc to form a government at Centre.
The law was cleared by Parliament four years ago amid sweeping protests, but implemented in March, with just weeks to go for the Lok Sabha polls. CAA is a major election issue in several key provinces, especially in Assam and West Bengal where the BJP has promised marginalised communities such as Dalits full citizenship under the law and accused previous governments run by the Congress of neglecting refugees from neighbouring countries.
Source: Agencies