West Bengal Man files RTI asking proof for Narendra Modi’s citizenship

Hyderabad: A man from West Bengal has filed an RTI, asking for information regarding the citizenship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shubankar Sarkar had filed an RTI on January 17, 2020, just five days after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by the parliament. Sarkar addressed the RTI to Prime Minister’s office and asked for the citizenship Certificate of prime minister Modi.

As a response, he was informed by the Prime Minister's office that Modi is a citizen of India by birth and under Section 3 of the Citizenship Act of 1955, he does not need to have a citizenship certificate, which is only given if one becomes a citizen of India by registration.

While Sarkar was not willing to comment, his friend Riyazudin spoke with NewsMeter. He said, “We filed the RTI to prove that none of the citizens have any special citizenship certificate to prove their citizenship. I have all the documents like Aadhar, PAN card, passport etc. Others will also have the same. But, if none of this will be accepted, how can anybody prove their citizenship?"

He further added, “What is that special citizenship that Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi has which the common citizens doesn’t have? When all these people have the same documents, how can they ask us to bring some special document to prove our citizenship?"

Before Sarkar, a Kerala-based man, Josh Kalluveettil had filed an RTI on January 13 seeking citizenship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed on December 11 last year, protests erupted in most parts of the country. Many said that the law is not democratic and breaks the secular nature of the country. According to a website 'Protest Monitor', almost 649 Anti-CAA protests and 110 Pro-CAA protests have happened in the country till now.