21,000 foreign nationals got Indian citizenship in past 10 years; 4,085 from Pakistan

Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals form the bulk of over 21,211 foreigners from 70 countries who acquired Indian citizenship in the last 10 years, according to official statistics.

Bangladeshis top the list with 15,176 followed by 4,085 Pakistanis, who became Indians between 2011 and 6 March 2020.

Pakistan nationals would have topped the list but for India granting citizenship to 14,864 Bangladeshi nationals in 2015 after the country signed the Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement.

The agreement signed in June 2015 facilitated the transfer of 111 enclaves, around 17,160.63 acres, from India to Bangladesh while New Delhi got 51 enclaves, around 7,110.02 acres, which were under the control of Dhaka.

If one removes the Bangladeshi nationals those who got Indian citizenship after the signing of the agreement, their number would reduce to just 312.

Afghanistan nationals came third with 1,107 becoming India nationals during this period, Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai responded to a question raised by Samajwadi Party MP Ravi Prakash Verma in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The religion-wise data was not provided by the MHA. On February 11 on a question raised by Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed Lok Sabha that records of persons granted citizenship are maintained as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and rules made thereunder and these records are "not maintained religion-wise".

However, in 'Agenda Aaj Tak' programme in December last year, Home Minister Amit Shah has said, "600 Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have been given citizenship by the Modi government in the last five years". On December 11 last year when Rajya Sabha passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, Shah was quoted by PTI as saying that as 566 Muslims have been given citizenship in recent years.

According to the data generated from the online citizenship module, more than 50% of the 4,085 Pakistani nationals or 2,859 got citizenship after 2015 with last year topping the table with 809. This year so far, 191 Pakistani nationals have got citizenship while only one each Bangladeshi and Afghan nationals became Indians.

The numbers for 2011-15 were in the range of 263 to 356 for Pakistani nationals, it rose in the second half of the decade as it oscillated between 450 to 809. The numbers for Afghan nationals getting citizenship was in the range of 117 to 244 between 2013 and 2017, its number has substantially dwindled thereafter.

It was in 2011 that Bangladeshis got the highest number of citizenship at 54 if one excludes 2015. Only eight Chinese and six Myanmar nationals have got Indian citizenship between 2011 and March 2020 while 165 Sri Lankans and 64 Nepal nationals too were accorded rights of being a citizen here.

The statistics also showed that 149 Americans and 66 Britishers too found India their home as citizens. While several Indians prefer to migrate to Canada and Australia, 27 Canadians and 11 Australians chose to take Indian citizenship during this period.

Thirty-four each Tanzanians, Kenyans and Malaysians, 25 Iranians and 19 Germans also find their names in the list.

Indian has also given citizenship to a few people from Moldova, Mozambique, Yugoslavia, Eritrea, Jamaica, Lebanon, Croatia, Ireland, Algeria, Uganda, Japan, Belize, Russia and Venezuela among others.