The notification of Citizenship Amendment Act has led to relief for many who can now apply for Indian citizenship, but despair for those who missed out – sometimes even within the same family, like in the case of the Rahejas
Indian soldiers and Pakistani Rangers had just begun their parade at the Wagah-Attari border gates, swinging their legs to exaggerated heights amid patriotic cheer, when Vinod Raheja along with seven family members crossed over to India on December 31, 2014, with visitors’ visas, hours before the mammoth gates slammed shut.
“We touched base in India just before the parade concluded. We never knew a citizenship amendment law would ever come, but by quirk of fate we just made it in the nick of time on the last day of 2014, to become eligible for citizenship [under the Citizenship Amendment Act] now,” says Raheja.
“We touched base in India just before the parade concluded. We never knew a citizenship amendment law would ever come, but by quirk of fate we just made it in the nick of time on the last day of 2014, to become eligible for citizenship [under the Citizenship Amendment Act] now,” says Raheja.