In a first, after the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Parliament on 11 December, eight Hindu refugees from Pakistan who were living in Kota since 2000 were given Indian citizenship on Monday (31 December), reports Times Now.
The certificate of citizenship was given to them by the District Collector of Kota.
According to sources, they had fled from the Sindh province of Pakistan after facing religious persecution. The new citizens “expressed relief about the fact that now they can lead lives according to the Indian constitution as an Indian citizen.”
One of them said, “We came here because our families are already here. We are very thankful to India for giving us citizenship. I am so happy and I have no words to express it.”
Another one said, “We have been living here for 20-25 years. We have never faced any problems here. And all the Sindhis living there want to come to India. We are very happy here. We have not faced any kind of problem here till now.”
Though Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had said said that CAA and National Register for Citizens (NRC) would not be implemented in the state, but local administration called it a routine process of granting citizenship.
Source : Swarajya
