Published 21:30 IST, January 26th 2020
Digvijaya Singh questions Centre on need for CAA, cites citizenship granted to Adnan Sami
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday questioned the Centre on the necessity of introducing the Citizenship Amendment Act citing Adnan Sami's case.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday questioned the Centre on the necessity of introducing the Citizenship Amendment Act. Congratulating famous singer Adnan Sami on being bestowed the Padma Shri award, Singh claimed that he had himself requested the Centre to grant him Indian citizenship. According to Singh, Sami’s case indicated that the government always had the right to give citizenship to any person irrespective of religion. Thereafter, he alleged that the sole purpose of the CAA was to create polarization in the Indian polity.
Journey to become an Indian citizen
The Lahore-born Sami originally arrived in India on March 13, 2001, on a visitor’s visa. Thereafter, his visa was extended from time to time. However, he was forced to apply for citizenship after the Pakistan government did not renew his passport that had expired on May 26, 2015. Sami became an Indian citizen from January 1, 2016, under the ‘citizenship by naturalisation’ category of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
What is the CAA?
The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they will not be considered as illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities has been reduced to five years. The opposition contends that the Act discriminates on the basis of religion.
Updated 21:30 IST, January 26th 2020