PHAGWARA, Aug 14 : Twenty Sikhs from Afghanistan have been granted Indian citizenship under the “Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), an official said on Wednesday.
These 20 persons were part of the first group of Afghan Sikhs who had applied for citizenship online nearly 100 days ago, the official said.
Senior BJP leader Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal praised the Union government and said the applications of these Sikhs were pending since 2010.
Many Sikhs have now petitioned the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to migrate their applications from the 1955 Act to CAA, as, under the latter, the chances of getting citizenship are better.
He said they came to India in 1992 but continued to live here on an LTV, which was being renewed every two years.
“Under the parent Act, multiple authorities, including the state government officials, were involved. However, under CAA, the role of the state government has been obliterated, so the applications could be processed quickly.
He said as CAA was opposed by many states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, in order to bypass the role of the state government in implementing the law, MHA notified committees headed by Census and postal department officials were looking into the issue. (UNI)
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