An Article That Home Minister Didn’t Like: Tavleen Singh After Son Aatish Taseer Loses OCI Status

British-born writer Aatish Ali Taseer’s mother and veteran journalist Tavleen Singh on Friday came out in support of her son after Centre revoked his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card saying, she will always stand up for the rights of her family. In an apparent dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Tavleen said that Aatish Taseer’s right to live in India was never questioned until he wrote an article that the Home Minister did not like. Aatish Taseer had written a cover story for Time magazine on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, titled “India’s Divider in Chief”.

On Twitter, while attaching a comment to a Tweet which called her son ‘creep’, Tavleen wrote, “Nobody whines in my family. Nobody claims to be a victim. But, yes I will stand up for his rights and mine (sic).”

A Home Ministry spokesperson said Taseer becomes ineligible to hold an OCI card, as per the Citizenship Act, 1955, as the OCI card is not issued to any person whose parents or grandparents are Pakistanis.

Thank you for this reminder. Aatish’s mother has also always been an Indian citizen. And, his right to live here was never questioned until he wrote an article that the Home Minister did not like. https://t.co/bybRQp0mIj

— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) November 8, 2019

Taseer has clearly not complied with very basic requirements and hidden information, the spokesperson said.

As per the Citizenship Act, if the registration as an OCI card holder was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or concealment of any material fact, the registration as OCI card holder shall be cancelled. The person will also be blacklisted thereby banning his or her future entry into India.

The 38-year-old writer is the son of late Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer 

The spokesperson also denied that the government had been considering revoking Taseer’s OCI card after he wrote an article in the Time magazine, which was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news was a “complete misrepresentation and is devoid of any facts”.

Reacting to the Home Ministry statement, Taseer wrote on Twitter that he was not given 21 days to reply to the ministry notice but just 24 hours.

“This is untrue. Here is the Consul General’s acknowledgment of my reply. I was given not the full 21 days, but rather 24 hours to reply. I’ve heard nothing from the ministry since,” he said.