Guwahati: Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday, 18 January 2020, about the implementation of the citizenship law across the country that it is not possible to prove the concept of religious persecution. At the same time it is being said that he clarified his point that religious persecution of citizenship is not the norm. He questioned that how can any person prove that he has been tortured on religious grounds. Minister Sarma said that there are three criteria to apply for obtaining citizenship under CAA. Where the first of these is that the applicant be Hindu, Jain, Parsi, Christian, Sikh or Buddhist.

According to information received from sources, secondly, the applicant is originally from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and third is that he should have proof of staying in India before 31 December 2014. He said that apart from this, religious persecution is not a criterion for citizenship.

Assam Min HB Sarma on his statement,'not possible to proof religious persecution':If a person has to prove it then he has to go to Bangladesh&collect a copy of police report. So,I said that it's not possible to proof concept of religious persecution #CitizenshipAmendmentAct(18.1) pic.twitter.com/Kpycq5VLOR

ANI  January 18, 2020

For your information, let us tell you that Sarma, stating the reason behind this, said that how can anyone prove that he has been tortured on religious grounds. This is simply not possible. If a person wants to prove this, then he will have to return to the country concerned and obtain documents related to harassment from the police. In such a situation, how will any country be ready to believe that persecution has taken place on religious grounds.