Prominent Congress Party parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor has introduced a bill in the Indian Parliament seeking to amend Article 9 of the Constitution so as to allow Indians dual citizenship.
Currently, millions of foreign nationals of Indian origin have to renounce Indian citizenship once they become citizens of another country. Moreover, the Indian Passport Act specifies that not surrendering one’s passport after acquiring citizenship of another country is an offense and punishable by fines of up to US$1,050.
According to the UN World Migration Report 2018, over 15.6 million Indians are living in other countries, making it the largest diaspora in the world. A large section of India’s global diaspora has been calling for India to allow dual citizenship.
The government of India, in order to cater to some of the demands of Indians living overseas, introduced the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. While the OCI allows foreign nationals of Indian origin to live and work in India indefinitely, they cannot vote or contest an election and do not have the right to own agricultural land in India.
Tabling the bill in parliament, Mr. Tharoor argued that people of Indian origin, many of whom have been highly successful tech-entrepreneurs and quite a few also rose to high public offices overseas, have an important stake in India. “By automatically terminating their Indian citizenship when they seek citizenship of countries of residence, the law effectively cuts them off their roots and makes them feel like they do not have a real stake in their country of origin,” he told the legislators.
Among the countries where Indians live and work in large numbers are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Together these countries alone account for over 7.5 million of the Indian diaspora.
