Recently, the Gujarat government granted Indian citizenship to 24 refugees on August 12 and 40 on August 23, 2022. After that, a piece of news got viral on social media that 1500 Hindu refugees who came from Rajasthan in 2 years had to return.
A social media user Triloki Nath Chaudhary claimed, “Gujarat Home Minister gave Indian citizenship to 24 Pakistani Hindus, 1500 Hindu refugees returned from Rajasthan in 2 years.”
Similarly, many other social media users are making the same claim.
Fact check:
To search this claim, DFRAC did a simple search with the help of related keywords on the Internet. We found several reports published by media houses on Pakistani Hindu refugees.
Navbharat has quoted official sources as saying in its report that 34 Pakistani Hindu refugees have gone back. In this report, the statement of Hindu Singh Sodha, president of The Frontier Lok Sangathan, has been quoted that due to the looseness of the central and state governments, more than 1500 Pakistani Hindu refugees were forced to go back to Pakistan in the last one and a half years. There are about 25,000 Pakistani Hindus who have to live as refugees in India for 10-15 years.
Keeping in view, the data given by Sodha is non-verified. Rajasthan is an Indian state bordering Pakistan, so most Pakistani Hindu refugees come to Rajasthan first. It has also been shown in Abhishek Bachchan’s film Refugee in the year 2000.
Refugee (2000 film) – Wikipedia
Under the title, Congress government’s decision in Rajasthan – Land for Hindu refugees from Pak at half the price” by Aaj Tak on 18 January 2020, the Published report states that there are more than one lakh Pakistani Hindu refugees living in Rajasthan, for whom Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has favoured citizenship from the beginning. He has taken up the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi.
Meanwhile, Dainik Bhaskar published the report on October 07, 2021, under the title “13 thousand Pak migrants in Rajasthan will get citizenship: Special camps for Pak migrants settled in 6 districts from October 8 to November 26, will get Indian citizenship after years”. “So far, 2,393 Pak migrants had given Indian citizenship by the Rajasthan government.”
In this report, the procedure of getting citizenship is being told. According to the Citizenship Act 1955, it was mandatory for Indian citizenship to stay for 12 years, which has brought to 6 years by bringing the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019(CAA).
Conclusion:
It is clear from this fact check of DFRAC that in the last two years, Pak Hindu refugees have been given citizenship. The fact that most of the Pak Hindu refugees are living in Rajasthan and the formality period of granting citizenship has been 12 to 6 years and there are no plans for immediate citizenship so far, so the claim made by social media users is misleading.
Claim: 1500 Hindu refugees returned in 2 years
Claimed by: Social media users
Factcheck: Misleading
