Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said the central government aims to complete within six months the process of granting Indian citizenship to eligible Hindu, Sikh and Jain refugees who came from Bangladesh. He made the announcement on Friday at an event in Kawakhali, Siliguri, in West Bengal.

Shah said the initiative covers people who entered India after facing persecution in Bangladesh and are eligible under the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA. He said they would receive citizenship with respect and dignity. The Union Home Ministry is coordinating with the West Bengal state administration on the process.

To speed up applications, the Home Ministry has given district magistrates in eight West Bengal districts the necessary authority to process citizenship cases, Shah said. India’s Parliament passed the CAA in 2019 and its rules took effect in 2024. The law provides a citizenship route, subject to conditions, for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India by December 31, 2014. Shah also stressed identifying illegal migrants in West Bengal and taking action against them.