AIADMK MP urges Centre to grant dual citizenship to SL Tamils

An AIADMK member on Monday urged the government in Rajya Sabha to take necessary steps for granting dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in India.

Making a special mention in the Upper House, AIADMK MP Vijila Sathyananth said there are close to one lakh Lankan Tamil refugees living in 107 camps spread across Tamil Nadu and another 36,000 staying in other states.

The AIADMK has been favouring dual citizenship because Sri Lankan Tamils have immovable assets in Sri Lanka, Sathyananth argued.

"It is learnt that the Indian Constitution does not stand in the way of granting dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils. If need be the Union Government should make an amendment for that matter and also work towards entering into a treaty with the Sri Lankan government in order to protect their properties after the grant of dual citizenship to them," she demanded.

In another mention, R K Sinha (BJP) demanded a mechanism to check "biased" media coverage of protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"For example, if a particular news channel runs a 30-minute bulletin on CAA, all of it are filled with public opinion and editorial against the CAA. At no point (do) such bulletins give space to counter opinion or even narrate what CAA says, set aside attempts to clarify misconceptions about CAA," he said.

Sinha said it appears that in the name of news and freedom of speech, such biased platforms are serving to publicise a narrative with vested interest and agenda.

He claimed that such media create an air of misinformation and negative image of the country, and violate basic principles of journalism and licence conditions.