Rohingyas who came before Dec 31, 2014 shouldn't be excluded from CAA: P Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said that Rohingays and Sri Lankan Tamils who had come to India before December 31, 2014, should not be excluded from Citizenship Amendment Act.

Chidambaram told media in an interview that the law should apply equally to all persecuted people.

On being asked about his suggestion that giving citizenship to Rohingyas will open floodgates for their entry into the country, he said "It is not correct. Stop them on the border. Who is preventing you? Who is preventing you from stopping them?"

"We are only talking about people who have already come before December 31, 2014. Nobody reads the law. If a Rohingya has already come before December 31, 2014, if you are applying the CAA, why are you excluding him? If a Sri Lankan Tamil has already come before the date, why are you excluding him, if a Christian from Bhutan has already come before the date, why are you excluding him. The cutoff date is December 31, 2014," he said.

Chidambaram had said in tweets on Friday that Congress was not against giving refuge and eventually citizenship to those who are persecuted in Pakistan, be it Hindus, Sikhs, Jains or Christians.

He said the law should apply equally to all persecuted people including Pakistani Ahmadiyyas, Sri Lankan Tamils, Bhutanese Christians, Myanmarese Rohingyas etc.

"The ideal law will be a humane and non-discriminatory law on refugees," he said in the tweet.

The CAA provides for giving citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who faced religious persecution and entered India before December 31, 2014.