Citizenship Act not necessary, CAA, NRC India's internal matter: Sheikh Hasina

In her first remarks on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has termed the contentious law and the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) as an "internal matter" of India but at the same time, said the act was "not necessary".

"We don't understand why (the Indian government) did it. It was not necessary," Hasina told the Gulf News in an interview.

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, who is in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, also said that there has been no recorded reverse migration from India.

"No, there is no reverse migration from India. But within India, people are facing many problems," Hasina said.

"(Still), it is an internal affair," she added.

"Bangladesh has always maintained that the CAA and NRC are internal matters of India. The Government of India, on their part, has also repeatedly maintained that the NRC is an internal exercise of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in-person assured me of the same during my visit to New Delhi in October 2019," she said.

(With inputs from The Indian Express)