Chief Minister Parrikar says: The Congress obsession to settle personal scores by exposing their rivals of Portuguese citizenship has opened a Pandora's box for over one lakh Goans who now risk loosing Indian citizenship.
Sec 9 (1) of the Indian Citizenship Act states that one ceases to be a citizen of India if he or she by naturalization, registration or otherwise voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country. On registration of births in Lisbon registry A passport consultant talks to O Heraldo: There is a difference between registering and transcribing. Registration of births happen only once in whichever country you are born in. Goans are not registering their births in Portugal. They are merely transcribing them ditto word by word. Even the (Goan) registry's registration number is copied . It is nothing but a mirror image of the birth registration which has already taken place in Goa. Sudhin Dhavalikar MGP MLA : Goans acquiring dual citizenship ( by registering their births in Portugal and thereby obtaining Portuguese passports ) should be deported out of India and their inherited land and ancestral homes be confiscated Radharao Gracias retorts: All those Goans who may have obtained Portuguese nationality are eligible to get ''overseas citizenship of India '' ( OCI) as matter of rights. These rights are a)Entitled to hold properties which they have inherited and b) the right to reside permanently in India. John Fernandes ex MP says: Some 1500 Tamilians opted for French nationality availing doles and other French Govt. schemes , even vote during French elections in the French consulate at Pondichery since Pondichery was once a French colony. Portuguese citizenship issue is a tricky matter, says Vishnu Wagh a BJP MLA And finally Dhavalikar laments: We are loosing lots of Goans to Portugal by having their consulate in Panjim which he demands to be closed.
