Six Pakistani Hindu migrants, living in Rajasthan for years, were granted Indian citizenship on Friday.
Additional District Collector (South) Shafali Kushwaha handed over the citizenship certificates to the migrants -- Premlata, Sanjay Ram, Bejal, Jajraj, Keku Mai and Gomand Ram -- here.
Premlata, 41, who came to India in 2010 after being displaced from Karachi, Pakistan, expressed her gratitude to the district administration. She said, "After coming to India, we have got the real feeling of freedom."
Sanjay Ram said, "I was trying to get Indian citizenship for the past 10 years, today the long wait of many years has ended and now we can say with pride that we are Indians."
On this occasion, the Additional District Collector congratulated the migrants who are now Indian citizens.
He said that the district administration processes the citizenship applications on priority as per the rules, and issues certificates so that the applicants do not face any problem.
The Indian Citizenship Certificate has been issued to a total of 319 eligible applicants, she said.
CAA becomes law
This development comes days after Citizenship Amendment Act became a reality as the Union Home MInistry notified Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, which led to widespread protests. The Act seeks to fast-track Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians but not Muslims who migrated to India as a result of religious persecution in the neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday assured minorities that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not take away their citizenship. He clarified that CAA is a law which gives citizenship and not takes away citizenship.
"I want to tell this country's minority brothers and mothers that no citizen will lose his citizenship because of CAA. CAA is a law to give citizenship not to take it. Owaisi, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi all are speaking lies that this will take away citizenship of minorities. I assure you that under CAA, there is no provision for taking away anybody's citizenship but there is provision to give citizenship to our refugees," he said.
(With inputs from IANS)
