Government has not issued any direction to the State Government of Assam for granting refugee status to illegal Hindu Bangladeshi immigrants. However, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 provides an enabling legal provision for grant of Indian Citizenship to persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India on or before 31.12.2014 due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution, which is under consideration for a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju in written reply to a question by Shri Sirajuddin Ajmal in the Lok Sabha today.

 

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KSD/NK/PK/KM/YS/2588  

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