Familiar with this racist imperative? This modified version of ‘Go back to where you came from’, and I am not referring to the social experiment held by SBS which was telecasted in several seasons and episodes in which six Australians live like refugees for twenty-five days, is exclusively directed towards Indian Permanent Residents or Indian citizens. Empty vessels do make much noise, don’t they? Instead of appreciating the Indians for giving up their Indian citizenship, which is an emotional venture for many, the ignoramus is unfair in their treatment of Australians (as shown by the nationality status in their newly acquired Australian passport and on their citizenship certificate) who contribute to the Australian economy and productivity. The ignoramus could have gathered the necessary information about the grant of dual citizenship in India before embarking on the journey of doom.
As per the information on the Australian High Commission, New Delhi’s webpage, “The constitution of India does not allow holding Indian citizenship and citizenship of a foreign country simultaneously.” However, due to many people of Indian origin who had migrated to foreign countries who have family and ancestral properties in their country of origin, OCI, which is the acronym for Overseas Citizenship of India is being granted to Indians settled abroad by the Government of India. To gain a multi-purpose lifelong visa that permits Indian with foreign citizens to visit India as many times as they want and to be exempted from police authorities during their indefinite stay in India besides the financial, economic and educational fields that NRI’s are eligible for, one should have resided in India for one full year out of the five years before submitting the OCI or dual citizenship application as per the section 7B (1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
As far as Australian citizens are concerned, they are advised to travel on their Australian passport in their status as dual nationals to be eligible for further assistance from the consulates. Even though Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Sashi Tharoor, has introduced a bill to cancel the automatic termination of Indian citizenship when one acquires the citizenship of a foreign country, and to allow dual citizenship, the present laws only allow OCI card. Youngsters, however, on turning eighteen, can choose between Indian citizenship and citizenship of a foreign country provided they surrender the citizenship of the other country. Failure to surrender Indian citizenship, which usually happens automatically, could result in paying a fine to the tune of $1050.
Returning to the ignoramus, who thought they had the authority to dismiss citizens of one country just like that to their country of origin, where they only have the right to live and work and cannot own lands or properties (???) or vote of complete in elections or hold any the central government high officials’ positions, a reality check would be useful.
A Writer's Exposé 