Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju gave the assurance while replying to Naik’s Citizenship Amendment Bill taken up for consideration on Friday. He assured Naik that necessary steps will be taken to protect the interest of these Goans and that nothing will be done that harms their interests.
He said the government is working on the problem created by the order passed by the Portugal government in 2006 on granting citizenship to people of its erstwhile colonies, moving cautiously since it is also a sovereign nation.
Naik did not press for voting on the Bill after debate and withdrew it, citing the “sweet” assurance by Rijiju. The Bill said Portugal’s offer to register births of those born in Goa and other Portugal-controlled areas before liberation made many rush believing that it will help their children get easy access to foreign universities, though most of them never ever visited Portugal.
Since none wanted to lose the Indian citizenship, Naik had brought the Bill to amend Section 9 of the Indian Citizenship Act that mere registration of birth in Portugal will not amount to losing the Indian citizenship unless the person voluntarily applies for citizenship of that country.
