KENDRAPARA: Union Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste launched the BJP’s awareness campaign on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at the seaside Ramanagar village under Mahakalapada block here on Sunday.
Ramanagar and nearby villages have a presence of large number of Bangladeshi Hindu refugees. Coastal areas of Kendrapara is home to around 70,000 Bengali speaking people, most of whom came from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1947. Many also migrated to the district from Bangladesh in the 1970s.
Addressing a public meeting at Ramanagar, Kulaste said Hindus and Indian Muslims have nothing to worry about CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) as both only aim to weed out infiltrators. “Under the CAA, Hindu refugees would be granted citizenship and Muslims who are living in India for the last several decades and have proper documents would not be affected. “Only those Muslims who have infiltrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan should be worried as they would be identified and thrown out of the country,” he said.
"Millions of Hindus fled Pakistan and East Pakistan at the time of our country’s partition which was done on religious lines. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan became Islamic Republics and adopted Islam as their state religion. From 23 per cent in 1947, Pakistan’s minorities today constitute a mere three per cent of the population. Keeping in mind the religious persecution of minorities in these three countries, the NDA Government decided to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under CAA," Kulaste said.
The demand of some opposition leaders to give citizenship for Muslims living in these three Islamic countries is illegal and irrational. These leaders are opposing CAA with an eye on the votes of illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, he said.
The Union Minister assured Indian citizenship to all Hindu refugees from Bangladesh who have settled in seaside villages of the district. “I came to know that many Hindu refugees from Bangladesh are staying in Kendrapara since long but have no legal documents to prove themselves as Indian citizens. Now, all of them will get Indian citizenship under the CAA,” Kulaste added.
President of the district unit of BJP Kishore Panda said in 2005, the Government had served ‘Quit India’ notices on 1,551 suspected Hindu Bangladeshis living in the seaside villages of Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks under the Citizenship Act, 1955. Now, these people are delighted after the Centre passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill and no more fear of deportation.