New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said in an event held in Chennai on Sunday that he has made an important statement regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He said that the purpose of this act is to improve people's lives. Under this act, citizenship is not being taken away, but citizenship is being granted.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the people who came to India from East Pakistan had settled in different camps of the country, they are still there. It is now 50-60 years old. He said that if you go to these camps, your heart will cry. There are similar situations with Sri Lankan refugees, who are living in camps. They are deprived of basic facilities. The Finance Minister said that this law is therefore an attempt to provide a better life to the people. We are not taking away citizenship, we are just giving them citizenship.

He said that in the last year 2838 Pakistani refugees, 948 Afghan refugees, 172 Bangladeshi refugees have been granted Indian citizenship, including Muslims. More than 4,00,000 Tamils (from Sri Lanka) have been granted citizenship of India from 1964 to 2008. The Finance Minister said that Pakistani singer Adnan Sami and thinker Taslima Nasreen have also been granted citizenship of India.

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