By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Gujarat has witnessed a constant increase in the number of people who have surrendered their passports. This indicates that a rising number of Gujaratis have continued to acquire the citizenship of foreign nations.
From 60 passports surrendered in 2018 the number has grown to 312 in 2020 — a 420% increase, reported Ahmedabad Mirror in the light of data provided by the RPO.
A majority of Gujaratis who gave up their Indian passports are those who had acquired the citizenship of a foreign nation, said sources at the RPO. This was followed by the surrendering of the passports of the deceased; a marginal number of surrendered regular passports came from those who had acquired diplomatic passports.
Indian nationals are attracted to western countries in a bid to improve their quality of life. Chirag Shah, who surrendered his Indian passport in 2015, currently lives in Langhorne in the US, says, ”Life is fast and busy in the US. Of course, what I miss the most about Ahmedabad is living life like a king. However, from the career point of view, we have better opportunities here and that is why I decided to stick to the US. I am quite happy with the life we lead now.”
While ruling out the proposal of dual citizenship, the Ministry of Home Affairs on 9 February had informed the Lok Sabha that 6.76 lakh Indians gave up their Indian citizenship between 2015 and 2019. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also reportedly said that as per information available with the Ministry of External Affairs, a total number of 1,24,99,395 Indian nationals are living in foreign countries.