Only three granted citizenship in Assam under CAA, says CM

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday (September 3, 2025) said that only three people have been granted Indian citizenship in the state under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), despite apprehensions that lakhs of foreigners would benefit from the law.

Speaking to reporters at an official event, Sarma said that the state government has received just 12 applications for citizenship under the CAA.

“Out of these, only three applicants have been granted citizenship so far, while the remaining nine cases are still under consideration,” he confirmed.

The Chief Minister dismissed fears raised by opponents of the CAA, pointing out that the scale of applications in Assam has been negligible.

“There was a hue-and-cry that 20–25 lakh people would get citizenship in Assam. Now you decide whether it is relevant to discuss the CAA when we have received only 12 applications,” he remarked.

In August 2024, Dulon Das, a 50-year-old man, became the first individual in Assam to be granted citizenship under the Act. Sarma, however, did not share details about the origins of the other two new citizens.

The CAA, enacted in 2019 and implemented in March 2024 through official notification of its rules, allows fast-tracked Indian citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants—Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, and Parsis—who entered India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014, after five years of residence.

Following the implementation of the Act, the Assam government had directed its border police in July 2024 not to forward cases of non-Muslim illegal immigrants who entered the state before 2015 to Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs).

Instead, such individuals were advised to apply for citizenship under the CAA. Last month, the government also instructed all districts to withdraw pending FT cases against non-Muslim foreigners who came before 2015.