Exodus in 'Aachhe Din': Over 1.83 lakh Indians already renounced citizenship in 2022, up from 1.29 lakh in 2014

2022 will witness a huge surge in the number of people renouncing the citizenship of India, as over 1.83 lakh people have already done so till October 31, up from about 1.29 lakh in 2014, when the Narendra Modi government took over in 2014 with the promise of ‘Aachhe Din’.

The exodus in 2022 is likely to take the total number of people giving up the citizenship of India in the past nine years close to 12.50 lakh. This year has already seen more people renouncing the citizenship of India than in each of the past 11 years.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has this week informed the Lok Sabha that 1,83,741 people renounced the citizenship of India till October 31.

The numbers of people, who gave up the citizenship of India in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, were 1,29,328; 1,31,489; 1,41,603; 1,33,049; 1,34,561, 1,44,017, 85,256 and 1,63,370 respectively, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan informed the lower house of Parliament in a written reply to a question from Abdul Khaleque of the Congress on Friday.

While 1,22,819 people renounced their citizenship in 2011, the number came down to 1,20,923 in 2012, only to go up to 1,31,405 in 2013.

The trend has been generally upward in the past years except in 2016 and 2017 as well as in 2020 – the year the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world and shutdowns and travel restrictions were imposed to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The Citizenship Act of India does not allow anyone to hold dual citizenship. As per the Passport Act, it is mandatory for all people having passports issued by the Government of India to surrender their last passports to any of New Delhi’s consular missions in foreign capitals or to the Regional Passport Offices of the MEA across the country immediately after acquisition of foreign nationality. It is an offence under the Citizenship Act and the Passports Act for foreign nationals to hold Indian passports.

The government issues a certificate confirming renunciation of citizenship by an individual.

Most Indians give up their citizenship to obtain the nationality of the United States. The government had informed the Lok Sabha earlier this year that 78,284 people had given up the citizenship of India after acquiring the nationality of the United States in 2021, up from 30,828 in 2020. 2019 had seen 61,683 people accepting the US nationality and renouncing the citizenship of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs had informed the lower house of Parliament on July 19.

Canada granted citizenship to 25,381, 17,093 and 21,597 Indians in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively. They all had to give up the citizenship of India. The United Kingdom comes third in the tally after the US and Canada in terms of granting citizenship to Indians. The British government granted the nationality status to 14,309, 6,489 and 14,637 Indians in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively. They all eventually renounced the citizenship of India.