PONDA: NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar has appealed to the Muslims not panic over Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) or fall prey to rumours, while speaking at a meeting at Sunni Shahi Madina Masjid in Curti.
“CAA will not do injustice to you. It is not against you. The CAA is to grant citizenship to the refugees like Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who arrived in India before December 31, 2014,” the BJP leader added.
He said after partition of India in 1947, many refugees had arrived to India from these countries. “After coming here they have no citizenship. The govt can’t keep them as refugees permanently causing problems to their life. Therefore, it has taken decision to grant citizenship to these refuges,” he explained. He added that even 566 Muslims arrived from Pakistan were also granted citizenship and that the govt takes decision as per the situation. “Even some Tamil refugees were given citizenship when there was problem in Sri Lanka in 1985,” he said.
He reiterated that both CAA and NRC are totally different issues. “While CAA has become law, (NRC) bill is not yet tabled in Parliament. NRC has been implemented in Assam due to its prevailing situation. March 25, 1971 is the cut off date for the same in Assam. There is Assam Accord,” he explained. To a question on the status of Muslim migrants who arrived in Goa from other States, whose births and marriages have not been recorded in their home States, he pointed out that the Bill had not been introduced in Parliament. However, he said, “The govt is sure to consider the migration problem while preparing NRC. It is obvious that citizens will migrate from one State to another State.”
