PANAJI
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar on Sunday criticized the Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) notification by the central government and expressed concern that it will sever the connection of Goans, who are working abroad, with their motherland Goa.
“The BJP government since coming to power is all out to sell Goa to crony capitalists friends of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the three linear projects and now the draconian OCI notification issued by the Modi government's Home Ministry will finish the hard working Goans working abroad,” Chodankar charged.
Congress slammed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ notification dated March 4 which dramatically altered the status of Overseas Citizens of India (including Non-Resident Goans).
The notification issued under Section 7B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, supersedes three earlier notifications issued during the UPA Government’s time and laid down the rights of the OCIs. Congress alleged that the new notification humiliates and illegally classifies OCIs as “foreign nationals” and introduces a series of new restrictions that dramatically curtails the rights and liberties of OCIs.
“Goa government is not able to give jobs to the people of this state and hence, our youth find jobs overseas. This new notification will disconnect them with Goa and also will create hurdles to send money, by creating a wall of bureaucracy, to their families. Hence this notification should be immediately withdrawn as it will further collapse the economy,” Chodankar stated.
“We will face a scenario where the central government will harass people by sending notices to people living in Goa who receive funds from their OCI relatives abroad,” he warned.
Chodankar further elaborated that Non-Resident Goans abroad will now not be able to send money to their families in India without having to go through the hardships of FEMA regulations.
Goan OCIs, especially those with Portuguese passports, will not be able to participate in religious activities such as organizing feasts and donating to temples, churches, mosques and gurudwaras in Goa.
Congress strongly condemned the notification and said that it is yet another step to close Indian society to the outside world. Chodankar said that the move will have an economic fallout of discouraging FDI into the Indian economy.
“This bill does not just deny people of Indian origin living abroad their lifelong wish of dual citizenship, it severs the legal and emotional link they have to their motherland,” he concluded.
