Sri Sri Ravi Shankar urges Centre to consider giving citizenship to over 1 lakh Sri Lankan Tamils

A day after the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar requested the Central government to consider giving citizenship to more than one lakh Sri Lankan Tamils, who are living in the country.

New Delhi: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Tuesday requested the Central government to consider giving citizenship to more than one lakh Sri Lankan Tamils, who are living in the country.

"I request the Government of India to consider giving citizenship to more than 1 lakh Tamil Sri Lankans who are living in this country as refugees for the last 35 years," he said in a tweet.

• I request the Government of India to consider giving citizenship to more than 1 lakh Tamil Sri Lankans who are living in this country as refugees for the last 35 years.#CABBill

  — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 10, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  I request the Government of India to consider giving citizenship to more than 1 lakh Tamil Sri Lankans who are living in this country as refugees for the last 35 years.#CABBill

  — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 10, 2019

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  I request the Government of India to consider giving citizenship to more than 1 lakh Tamil Sri Lankans who are living in this country as refugees for the last 35 years.#CABBill

  — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 10, 2019

Later in the day, the spiritual leader in another couple of tweets claimed that he had met Dr APJ Abdul Kalam when he was the President regarding the citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.

"I had met Dr Kalam when he was President regarding the citizenship of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. We also presented 10 million signatures from Tamil Nadu to the Manmohan Singh govt. While Sri Lankan refugees have been given citizenship in Europe, Canada & other countries..they are still living in refugee camps in India. I have personally visited these refugee camps & their plight is really woeful," he said in a couple of tweets.

• I had met Dr Kalam when he was President regarding the citizenship of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.We also presented 10 million signatures from Tamil Nadu to the Mamohan Singh govt.While Sri Lankan refugees have been given citizenship in Europe,Canada & other countries,
  1/2#CABBill

  — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 10, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  I had met Dr Kalam when he was President regarding the citizenship of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.We also presented 10 million signatures from Tamil Nadu to the Mamohan Singh govt.While Sri Lankan refugees have been given citizenship in Europe,Canada & other countries,
  1/2#CABBill

  — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 10, 2019

  ">

  I had met Dr Kalam when he was President regarding the citizenship of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.We also presented 10 million signatures from Tamil Nadu to the Mamohan Singh govt.While Sri Lankan refugees have been given citizenship in Europe,Canada & other countries,
  1/2#CABBill

  — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 10, 2019

His remarks come amid the discourse over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which got a nod from the Lok Sabha, will be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.