GUWAHATI | The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was implemented last week allows persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to attain Indian citizenship.
Amidst protests that have been going on since the last month, state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Jan 17, said that the Act cannot prove if the people applying for citizenship actually faced religious persecution.
However, the Central Government will work out a process to verify their claims.
He said, "There can be no proof of religious persecution. But they will need proof that they came before 2014. How can there be proof of religious persecution? Will any police station in Bangladesh give them a document that says they faced religious persecution?"
"But the Indian government will have some in-house processes to check whether the place that they are coming from had any incident of atrocities against minorities," he further added.
It is to be mentioned that it is the first time that citizenship is to be provided in the country on the basis of religion under the CAA. The government has claimed that persons who have been religiously persecuted in these three countries would be provided Indian citizenship.
However, Sarma had said that proving this might be challenging for the applicants.
