'CAA was brought to target minorities,' says TMC MP Saket Gokhale as Pak nationals return

New Delhi: In the wake of the Centre revoking visas for Pakistani nationals, Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday questioned the rationale behind the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), alleging that it was brought just to target the minorities, just like the Waqf Amendment Act.

Gokhale, a Rajya Sabha MP from TMC, said only 350 people have been given Indian citizenship under the CAA.

According to a Ministry of External Affairs release, the revocation of visas does not apply to the long term visas already issued to Hindu Pakistani nationals, which "remain valid."

Gokhale, however, on X said, "(Narendra) Modi Government claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was to 'provide citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries.' Truth is only 350 people have been given citizenship." The Union Home Ministry has not made public any data regarding citizenships granted under the CAA so far.

"Now, with the cancelling of visas, minorities from Pakistan who came after 2014 cut-off date (in the last 11 years) will be deported back to that country. The Pakistani Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, & Parsis, who Amit Shah said he was 'protecting,' will be deported back to Pakistan or jailed," Gokhale claimed.

The CAA 2019 allows religious minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, who entered India before December 31, 2014 to get Indian citizenship through fast track.

The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament in 2019 led to an uprising among the Muslims and led to massive protests across country with several student groups supporting them, leading to jailing of many.

Rules for the CAA were notified on March 11, 2024.

"Like the Waqf Act, the CAA was purely brought by the Modi Govt to target minorities & incite communal tensions in our country. And the BJP is now using the Pahalgam terror attack to do exactly the same thing instead of bringing the terrorists to justice," Gokhale said.

The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

The Indian government last week revoked 12 categories of visas, including business, conference, visitor and pilgrim visas, given to Pakistani nationals following the terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 people were killed.

Between April 24 and 27, as many as 537 Pakistani nationals, including nine diplomats and officials, left India through the Attari-Wagah border point as the exit deadline for the 12 categories of short-term visa holders of the neighbouring nation ended Sunday.