2 days after getting citizenship, B'desh man now plans to get naturalisation papers for kin

PTI, Kolkata, May 31, 2024 : Pleasantly surprised at getting Indian citizenship seamlessly, former Bangladeshi national Bikash Mondal now plans to get his family members to apply for naturalisation certificates soon.

Mondal said his parents and wife, who are also Bangladeshi nationals, are yet to apply for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

“Now, I plan to get my father, mother and wife to apply for Indian citizenship,” he said.

Speaking to PTI over phone from his residence in Asannagar in West Bengal’s Nadia district, Mondal claimed that documentation and verification processes were “easy and hassle-free”.

Originally from Jhenaidah district, Bangladesh, Mondal and his family settled in Asannagar, drawn by the presence of relatives there.

The 34-year old man said he got married after settling in India and that his wife also hails from the neighbouring country.

On reasons for shifting to India, Mondal said, “Most of our relatives are settled in this country. We used to go through a lot of mental stress thinking about our future as we were left there without our near and dear ones.” Mondal, who moved to India with his parents in 2012, said he did not try for citizenship earlier, though he holds a pre-2014 ration card here.

“After coming to know about the CAA notification, I applied from the designated portal on April 27,” he said.

“The verification process was easy. I produced my birth certificate given by the local authorities in Bangladesh and the ration card,” Mondal said.

He said verification of documents was done on May 27 at the office of the postal superintendent in Nadia district headquarters Krishnanagar. “I got the official document of citizenship on May 29 by email,” Mondal added.

The ‘Certificate of Naturalisation’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs given to Mondal entitles him “to all political and other rights, powers and privileges and be subject to all obligations, duties and liabilities to which an Indian citizen is entitled to or subject to,” thus granting him the status of an Indian citizen.

Mondal said before leaving Jhenaidah district, they had sold off their small land holding with a modest house.

“I now own a cyber cafe in Asannagar,” Mondal said.

Mondal said his three-and-a-half-year-old son is an Indian national by birth.

The CAA was enacted in December 2019 for granting Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

The Union government had notified the Rules for CAA on March 11, paving the way for the implementation of the law, which invited stiff opposition from some political parties, including the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

The first set of citizenship certificates after the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 were handed over to applicants in New Delhi by the Union Home Secretary on May 15.

The second tranche of citizenship certificates were issued on May 29, days before the final phase of voting for Lok Sabha polls on June 1, to applicants in West Bengal, Haryana and Uttarakhand.

The TMC and the BJP have been involved in a war of words over implementation of CAA during the campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.