‘People taking the citizenship of another country while being an Indian citizen will automatically lose their Indian citizenship’

Former Union Minister and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has claimed that AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will lose their citizenship soon.

“The file is on the Home Minister Amit Shah’s table and soon they will lose their citizenship,” he said while delivering a lecture on “CAA - a historical imperative beyond contemporary politics” at the University of Hyderabad, organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Quoting the Indian Constitution, he said people taking the citizenship of another country while being an Indian citizen will automatically lose their Indian citizenship. He claimed that Rahul Gandhi had opted for British citizenship for starting a business in England.

However, Mr. Gandhi can apply afresh for the citizenship as his father Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian. However, he can’t apply using the credentials of his mother Sonia Gandhi, who he claimed was not an Indian national.

On the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he said the CAA was not understood properly and those opposing it had not read the Act itself. Indian Muslims are no way affected with this Act and it was ridiculous to argue that Muslims coming from Pakistan and Bangladesh should be considered for citizenship. Pakistan is not allowing Rohingya Muslims to enter their country and here some people want Pakistanis to come here, he commented.

He said minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh have nowhere to go to escape religious persecution and their only alternative was India. If they are being given citizenship why should anyone have problems, he asked. During his speech a section of students belonging to the Students Federation of India (SFI) stood silently holding placards protesting against the CAA.