The claim that 132 Hindu doctors who came to India from Pakistan got citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act is misleading. It has not been implemented yet, as the rules have not been notified after being passed by the Indian Parliament.
New Delhi Vishvas News – A post is going on social media with claims that Hindu doctors from Pakistan have cleared the NMC exam in Gujarat. The post further claims that all these Hindu doctors came to India after the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and have now become practising doctors in Gujarat. It is claimed that all these doctors got Indian citizenship after the enactment of the CAA Act.
Vishvas News conducted an investigation and found this claim to be misleading. While it is true that 132 doctors who passed the NMC exam are Hindus from Pakistan, their citizenship is not related to CAA, which has not yet been implemented despite being passed by Parliament. Therefore, the question of giving citizenship to anyone under this law does not arise. All of them have obtained citizenship under India’s Citizenship Act of 1955, under which not only Pakistanis but citizens of other countries can also acquire citizenship through established procedures and norms.
Sharing the viral post, social media user ‘BJP Sashi Kumar Subramony’ (Archive) wrote, “132 Hindu doctors who came from Pakistan after CAA have been registered as full-time medical practitioners in the state. They held an event to thank the Gujarat Govt for their continuous support. This news is positive… yet some will cry. The question is to those experts who were saying Modi didn’t implement CAA. So how did this happen? Several other users have shared the post with similar claims.
The viral post includes a link to a news item published in the Times of India with a Gandhinagar dateline dated July 4. It mentions that 132 Pakistani Hindu doctors have passed the NMC exam. According to the news, all these doctors came to India after studying medicine in Pakistan and will now be able to practice in India after passing the NMC exam.
The news mentions that many doctors came to India and obtained citizenship here. For example, Dr Dashrath Kumar (47) came to India in 2006 and became a citizen in 2016. Dr Om Prakash Rathi (49) arrived in India in 2007 and became an Indian citizen in 2016. Another doctor, Rajkumar Jasrani, came to India in 2009 and became an Indian citizen in 2016.
It is clear that all these doctors came to India before the CAA was passed and they acquired Indian citizenship under the previous law. The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, clearly outlines the criteria for acquiring Indian citizenship, which includes birth, descent, registration, and naturalisation.
The Indian Government’s citizenship application portal also mentions that citizenship can be applied for under the 1955 Act. The investigation reveals that the Pakistani Hindu doctors mentioned in the claim obtained Indian citizenship under the pre-CAA law.
Regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), it has not been implemented yet. The Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, on 11 December 2019, to give citizenship to religiously persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh based on religious persecution.
The government issued a notification to implement this law on 12 December 2019. However, it has not been enforced yet. The government has been given additional time, according to the report published on October 18, 2022, quoting news agency PTI on ET’s website. The Parliamentary Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha have once again extended the time for the Union Home Ministry to prepare provisions for the CAA Act 2019.
The deadline was extended until 31 December 2022 for Rajya Sabha and until 9 January 2023 for Lok Sabha. This is the seventh consecutive extension given to the Ministry of Home Affairs for framing rules to implement the Act. Importantly, without these rules, the law cannot be implemented.
According to the information provided by the news agency ANI on 30 November 2021, the government stated in its reply to the Lok Sabha that applications for citizenship under CAA can only be made after the rules are notified.
Vishvas News contacted Deepak Ranjan, correspondent of news agency PTI-Bhasha, who covers the Parliament, regarding this matter. He confirmed that the Citizenship Amendment Act has not yet been implemented in the country.
Vishvas News also contacted Rajendra Singh Parmar, deputy editor of Jagran Gujarati, regarding the viral post of Pakistani-origin doctors getting Indian citizenship. He confirmed that these doctors had already obtained Indian citizenship before the CAA. He said that all these doctors had come to India after studying medicine in Pakistan but could not practice here. Now, after passing the NMC exam, they will be able to practice as doctors in India.
The user who shared the viral post with the misleading claim is followed by over 700 people on Facebook.
Conclusion: The claim that 132 Hindu doctors who came to India from Pakistan got citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act is misleading. It has not been implemented yet, as the rules have not been notified after being passed by the Indian Parliament.
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