Raman Singh the current chief minister of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday announced that his government had given clearance for 60 Pakistani Hindu migrants to get Indian citizenship. He also asserted that the remaining 600-700 such Hindu migrants too would soon be provided citizenship.
As per Raman Singh, it was possible as for the 1st time the Central government had given the state government authority to take such actions. Raman Singh also sympathised with the plight of the migrants by stating that these people who ran away from Sindh after having suffered and getting treated badly (by the locals. He added that they finally received Indian citizenship 30-40 years later. He further pointed out that the people who were oppressed in Pakistan have now got due respect.
The Raman Singh government had reportedly sent the applications of about 600 such Hindus for registration out of which 60-70 have now been cleared.
This isn’t the only time Pakistani Hindus have been provided such a citizenship. We had reported in July that as many as 114 people from Pakistan, most of them Hindus, had received Indian citizenship in Gujarat. This was considered possible as a result of the Modi government simplifying rules for Pakistani Hindus in exile to get Indian citizenship.
These simplification of rules include:
- Collector’s office being given powers to process applications seeking citizenship which earlier needed pleas to be made to the Home Ministry. A renunciation certificate too was compulsory from the home country for getting citizenship, all of which has now been doe away with.
- The registration fee to apply for Indian citizenship has been reduced to as low as Rs 100 from the earlier amount of Rs 15,000.
Even though the rules have been simplified, it hasn’t meant that Hindu migrants have started to enjoy safe haven in this country. In August it was reported that 9 Hindu families were deported back to Pakistan even though the Rajasthan High Court had given clear orders against their deportation.
