Category: Delhi News

The residents of the camps were overjoyed when their hopes of tangible possibilities materialised after more than a decade as a people of no country. Following the implementation of CAA by the central govt on March 12, the first lot of certificates confirming the migrants’ new citizenship status were distributed on Wednesday. Additional certificates were handed out on Thursday, welcoming more into the India fold.

The camp environs remind of a typical rural habitation — semi-pucca houses, dirt tracks, painted courtyards, small temples, cows in almost every house, children playing in the dusty lanes. The residents are closely knit and know each other well, having the common backstory of lost homes and fleeing lives of persecution and denial.
Madhav, Chandar Kala, Bawana and Lachhmi were among those who received the citizenship papers. They are the feted dwellers of the Adarsh Nagar camp. Others who had applied for Indian citizenship are awaiting their papers, while those yet to apply are reaching out to them to find out what to do.
“I have this sense of being liberated,” said Bawana, 18, whose father had gone to support others who were taking the citizenship oath on Thursday. “I have always felt I was an Indian after setting foot here as an eight-year-old. But this certificate makes it legal, which means I can now travel across India, see our temples, apply to a college of my choice, even try for a govt job. I wish to teach in the same school where I was educated. I would teach youngsters to value citizenship.”
Bawana and her sister-inlaw, Chandra Kala, waved their certificate of naturalisation. The Form XIIA of The Citizenship Rule, 2009, of the Ministry of Home Affairs makes them “entitled to all political and other rights, power and privileges and be subject to all obligations, duties and liabilities to which an Indian citizen is entitled to”.
There were some volunteers in the camp helping others with the required paperwork. In the backdrop, life seems to be business as usual: children trotting to school, women preparing meals, Men feeding cattle, elders being tended to. However, a piece of paper had changed life for many dwellers of the camp.
“Who would want to leave their janmabhoomi? But when living there becomes impossible, what option is there?” asked Sita Ram, a 35- year-old migrant who crossed into India in 2013 with his entire family, including a sixmonth-old daughter. “After arriving in India, we went to Hardwar to immerse my father’s ashes. We did not go back because there is nothing left for us back in Pakistan except misery and insecurity.” Ram hasn’t yet had his citizenship status changed, but hopes to soon share the elation at finally becoming a legal Indian.
Lachhmi | 25
Fearing for the family’s safety and to avoid the forced conversion of his two daughters, Lachhmi’s father fled Mirpur Khas in Pakistan in 2013. The family arrived in India on a pilgrimage and some relatives in Gujarat provided temporary shelter. After learning there were other Pakistani Hindu families in Delhi, they left Gujarat and, with the help of some local leaders, settled down at the Adarsh Nagar camp. There, Lachhmi was married off to a fellow migrant from Pakistan. The couple has a one-year-old daughter. An overjoyed Lachhmi flaunted her citizenship certificate and said, ‘When I came to India, I was 12 or 13 years old and had never attended school. I am happy that my daughter has a better future. She can go to school without fear and can avail govt benefits too.’
Jhule Ram | 28
Ram remembers shifting from Hyderabad in Sindh to a small village after religious tension rocked his locality in 2009-10. But there was no respite in the village either. This is when his family decided to flee Pakistan. After crossing the border in 2013 as a 17-year-old, Ram quickly learnt the ways of the world and today sells mobile phone accessories and cold drinks near Majnu Ka Tila. Becoming an Indian is akin to getting new wings, he exulted, after being granted citizenship along with his brother, Harsh Kumar, and uncle, Sheetal Das. Some family members are awaiting a similar change in status. ‘The best part of getting citizenship is the opportunities it opens up. We can now shift from the camp and settle in the city, where there are better prospects for education and business,’ he said.
Dayal Das | 49
Whether it was a yearning for India or a premonition of the future, Das named his son Bharat when he was born 23 years ago. Today, the sharecropper, his wife and his children, Yashoda, 25, and Bharat, are all Indian citizens. They had reached India in 2013 on a pilgrimage visa from Hyderabad in Sindh and lingered on, extending the visa every so often. ‘Who doesn’t know why we left Pakistan?’ he guffawed when asked, leaving unsaid the fact of their religion being a disadvantage in that country. ‘Our life there was full of uncertainty. The struggle prevented my children from getting education,’ he said. ‘But I know that my grandchildren will live a life of dignity.’ Das is keen to help other Pakistani Hindus with the necessary paperwork to claim Indian citizenship.
Bawana | 18
The teenager’s citizenship paper says she was eight years old when she entered India via the Wagah border on March 22, 2014. She has fading memories about Tando Allahyar village in Pakistan where she was born. She, however, remembers going to school with her elder sister draped in a burqa and being denied water at the school’s handpump for being Hindu. One of the youngest people to be granted citizenship, Bawana has just cleared the Class X CBSE Board exams from Govt Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Majlis Park, with an aggregate score of 70%. Unlike in Pakistan, she says she was never discriminated against in her Delhi school. ‘I wish my cousins left behind in Pakistan too got the benefit of education that I did,’ she said. ‘Our parents made the right decision to move to India.’
Bram Das | 25
Das is not yet an Indian citizen, but he applauded his camp neighbours for getting their citizenship papers. Das’ family came from Matiari district in Sindh to the Majnu Ka Tila camp in 2013 with 60 other migrants. ‘I have done all the necessary paperwork and am expecting my citizenship letter soon,’ he said brightly. ‘Those who become Indian citizens are lucky. They and their future generations will live in a country that offers respect and opportunities. Ask the people left behind what it feels to be denied economic and social rights.’ While eager for the day when he too can take oath as an Indian citizen, Das worries about the many relatives they have left behind in Matiari and other places in Sindh. Horrifying news of persecution reaches us regularly, he said.
Photos: Anindya Chattopadhyay