157 migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan granted Indian citizenship under CAA in Gujarat, Odisha

A total of 157 migrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan have been granted Indian citizenship in two separate state-level events held in Gujarat and Odisha under India's Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA).

According to a report by Mint, Gujarat's Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi handed over citizenship certificates to 122 Pakistan-origin migrants in Ahmedabad on Thursday, while Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi issued certificates to 35 Bangladesh-origin migrants in Bhubaneswar.

In Gujarat, officials told PTI that 73 additional applicants received their certificates after applying through the Ahmedabad district collector's office.

Sanghavi thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for operationalising the CAA, saying minorities in Pakistan and neighbouring countries had endured "hardships and threats to their security" for decades. He said the updated rules were introduced to ensure "fair recognition" for those who took shelter in India.

"Muskuraiye, aap ab Bhaarat ke nagrik hain (Smile, you are now citizens of India)," he told the recipients, several of whom shared emotional accounts of their long waits for citizenship.

Sanghavi added, "Today, 195 Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain refugees from Pakistan were granted Indian citizenship. Many of them had struggled for decades, some since the 1950s… They endured hardships and a lack of support, living in fear… The CAA has enabled these 195 individuals to finally receive Indian citizenship."

Among those present was Dr Maheshkumar Purohit, a gynaecologist who migrated from Pakistan in 1956. His decades-long struggle to secure citizenship came to light only when he applied for a passport, the report noted. After repeated attempts, he finally received official recognition and, under the CAA in April 2025, acquired a passport that allowed him to visit his daughter abroad—an experience he described as "profoundly emotional and long overdue".

35 Bangladesh-origin migrants get citizenship in Odisha

In Bhubaneswar, the Odisha Census Directorate and India's Home Ministry jointly organised a ceremony where Chief Minister Majhi said India's "traditional values of humanity and asylum" had been restored through the citizenship process initiated by PM Modi.

Majhi said, "Today, for the first time in Odisha, based on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, 35 people living in Nabarangpur district of Odisha were granted citizenship certificates… These people migrated from Bangladesh were provided citizenship certificates."

Welcoming them formally as Indian citizens, Majhi added that ensuring their "safety, respect, and progress" was now the responsibility of the state.

He stressed that while people of other religions facing persecution could seek refuge in various countries, "Hindus persecuted elsewhere had no place to turn except India," asking where they would have gone if India lacked laws to protect them.

One of the new citizens, Bapin Mirda, who migrated from Bangladesh in 1998, said the certificate provided him with "a new sense of identity".

The latest distributions mark a continued rollout of citizenship under the CAA, which fast-tracks naturalisation for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 2014.