Why is CAA Necessary? Union Minister Hardeep Puri Points to Plight of Sikhs, Hindus in Afghanistan

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said the recent turmoil in Afghanistan and troubles being faced by Sikhs and Hindus were why the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act was necessary.

Puri, who handles the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Housing and Urban Affairs, shared a tweet: “Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood & the way Sikhs & Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act. #CAA.”

A special evacuation flight of the Indian Air Force reached the Hindon airbase on Sunday with 168 passengers, including former Afghanistan parliamentarians. They thanked the Indian government for the evacuation. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi posted a video of the evacuation where evacuees were chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ inside the aircraft.

Eighty-seven Indians stranded were also brought back to Delhi in a special Air India flight from Kabul early on Sunday. The stranded Indians were first taken to Tajikistan capital Dushanbe from Kabul on board a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force and the group was brought back to Delhi in the early hours on Sunday, Arindam Bagchi informed.

Fearing for their lives after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Sikh and Hindu families are keen to leave the country, a Kabul-based Sikh businessman had said on Tuesday. He had however, added that some Taliban leaders have assured Sikhs and Hindus of their safety.

Puri on Tuesday had said the Indian authorities are in touch with a group of Sikhs taking shelter in a gurudwara near Kabul in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country, and that they will be brought to India as soon as possible. Puri who was approached by BJP MP Hans Raj Hans for help to the Sikhs also discussed the issue with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

“We have been in touch with the Sikh leaders and those in Afghanistan. They will be brought back safely as soon as possible,” Puri told PTI. Hans, who hails from Punjab, said that around 250 Sikhs of Indian origin are taking shelter in the gurudwara near Kabul and they are safe.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been brought back into the spotlight by the Afghan crisis, as it aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who arrived in India before December 31, 2014. The rules under the act are yet to be notified.

It was announced by the Union Home Ministry that it is committed to returning all Indians and Afghan Sikhs and Hindus to their homelands in India and Afghanistan respectively. Since the ministry of home affairs reevaluated visa provisions, it has created a new electronic visa category for Afghan nationals, primarily Hindu or Sikhs.

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