Naresh Chandra Favours Dual Citizenship For Nris

Indian Ambassador to the US, Naresh Chandra, said dual citizenship for Indians settled abroad was a concept worth consideration and he was persuaded it could be supported.

Apparently, the US had no objections about Indian Americans enjoying dual citizenship. The progress I have achieved is that the US would be quite willing to go along. There is no problem here, Chandra told Indian journalists here.

In doing this Chandra shot down the orange card proposed for non-resident Indians (NRIs) by predecessor Siddhartha Shankar Ray, as it was a poor substitute to what is the substantive demand - dual citizenship.

Debunking Rays proposal for an orange card on the lines of the green card in the US, first proposed during the May 1994 visit of then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to the US, Chandra described the orange card as merely an idea, and fairly nebulous at that.

 

He said When we examined it (the dual citizenship demand) in Delhi in 1993, at the direction of the Prime Minister, we found the Constitution and the law as it stands today, does not permit it. Chandra said at the time Delhi was also not sure of the reaction of the US to this concept.

He said if the Supreme Court had also ruled that such a provision could not be operative for the US alone or for two or three more countries. It would have opened a Pandoras box for NRIs in the Indian diaspora in places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and a host of African countries clamouring for the same privilege.

But now we are studying the situation again, he said, since Ive had the benefit of very active persuasion of Indians settled here.

Chandra said legal experts had also advised that in order to circumvent the courts, if it is something international or done by way of agreement in the exercise of the sovereign power of the people as a state, then courts wont interfere, because all international treaties are exceptions to national law.

So I am now proposing that we will examine it again, Chandra said, and urged Indian Americans to lobby Parlia-mentarians in their native states to support the concept.

It would help if Indians settled here, from whichever region they come, keep in touch with the members of Parliament and let their interest in this proposal be known to them so that they are helpful when the debate comes up, he said.

As part of the activities envisaged in conjunction with Indias 50th anniversary of independence, Chandra announced that the Indian government in concert with the Indian American community would establish an India Centre in Washington.

The proposed India Centre would be similar to the Nehru Centre in London, but not wholly owned and operated by the Indian government.

We have suggested from our (embassy) side that in case of the US it would be better to work with the community settled here, in terms of planning its scope because if it is purely government, its size would be limited by the budget provision that is made from year to year.

He said: We want it going and becoming a running concern during the period we celebrate 50 years of Indias independence. That is the ambitious target.

On the chances of US President Bill Clinton visiting India to participate in the 50th anniversary of independence celebrations, Chandra said, Prime Minister H D Deve Gowdas formal invitation had been accepted in principle by the White House, and as indicators are, it seems highly likely that if at all he can fit it in, he will do it within the period of August 97 to August 98.