A Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) official, Prashant Hartalkar, alleged on Monday that medical visas were being misused by Muslims to migrate to India. Hartalkar, the VHP central secretary (international coordination), was speaking at the ‘Migrant Pakistani Hindu Doctors Registration Appreciation Ceremony’ in Ahmedabad.

Referring to former external affairs minister, the late Sushma Swaraj, Hartalkar said that she had tried to issue a lot of medical visas. “But in the name of medical visas, many Muslims migrated to India. Does anyone return later? When a Hindu does not return then will a Muslim return?… they (Hindus) should come and live here but Muslims should not come to India,” Hartalkar claimed.

“The Indian government had eased the visa process in the last two years. But unfortunately…many Muslims have migrated to India. What will India do? What will the government do? They said, there are no medical facilities there. I went and saw the hospitals there. But there are primary health centres, hospitals, and X-ray machines but no electricity. Such are the hospitals in Pakistan,” Hartalkar alleged.

The ‘thanksgiving’ event – to thank the government for their registration – on Monday was organised by the Migrant Pak Hindu Doctors Forum, an Ahmedabad-based organisation. As per official data, 132 migrant Hindu doctors from Pakistan cleared the National Medical Commission (NMC) exam and of these, 32 doctors have registered to provide their services in Gujarat’s health sector.

Apart from Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, MP Kirit Solanki, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, the Migrant Pak-Hindu coordinator Rajesh Maheshwari, the president of the Gujarat Medical Council, and several migrant doctors and their families were also present at the function.

Hartalkar referred to the Rohingya Muslims while pointing out that Muslims were entering India from across borders, and called them “intruders”, accusing them of coming to India “for religion”. He also urged the migrant Hindu families to move across India, without restricting themselves to Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Speaking on the occasion, Hosabale said the Centre will not backtrack from implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). “As a matter of fact, the CAA is an attempt to give citizenship to those who have been mistreated in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The division of the country was a mistake of history and with that, hundreds of families and people were destroyed. It is a black page in human history, in the history of India. Even if you want to forget, you cannot forget and you should not forget either,” Hosabale added…

This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here