Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that only three people have been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the state so far, against a total of 12 applications received.
Speaking to reporters in Guwahati, Sarma said the low number of applicants showed that fears of lakhs of foreigners becoming citizens through CAA were misplaced. “In Assam, only three people have got citizenship under the CAA so far. We have received only 12 applications, and the remaining nine are still under consideration,” he said.
Sarma dismissed continued debates around the law, adding, “There was a hue and cry that 20–25 lakh people would get citizenship in Assam. Now you decide whether it is relevant to discuss the CAA when we received only 12 applications.”
He did not reveal the details of the new citizens’ origin. However, in August 2024, 50-year-old Dulon Das became the first person in Assam to receive citizenship under the CAA.
The Act, passed in December 2019 and implemented in March 2024, fast-tracks Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who entered India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan before December 31, 2014, after five years of residence.
Following its implementation, the Assam government directed its border police not to forward the cases of non-Muslim migrants who entered the state before 2015 to Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) and instead guide them to apply under the CAA. Last month, the state also instructed all districts to withdraw pending FT cases against such migrants.
