SHILLONG: North East Bengali Sahitya Sabha, the umbrella Bengali literary organisation, in its session held here on Sunday resolved to take legal and Constitutional recourse to protect all legitimate rights of the community in the region.
Delegate after delegate who participated in the deliberations on the issues arising out of on-going exercise of updating NRC in Assam, observed that it was imperative for making a concerted effort to thwart attempts to deny the Bengali speaking community of Assam their rights to live with due rights as bona fide citizens. They asserted that Bengalis have lived in the region for centuries and are indigenous to the undivided Assam. Any mischievous attempt to dump them as aliens was a miscarriage of justice and would be challenged in the Apex Court armed with historical and Constitutional evidence.
The Sabha also decided to create awareness in rest of the country about the litany of harassment of Bengali citizens in Assam leading to suicide by many victims.
The deliberation, which was presided over by former Meghalaya Minister Manas Chaudhuri, was attended by delegates from Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Delhi, besides Shillong.
Among others who addressed the meeting were Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha MLA from Assam, ex-VC of Assam University Dr J.B. Bhattacharjee, former Meghalaya Director Education Dr S.K. Chattopadhyay, social activist Dr Subrata Das, Supreme Court Advocate A.Paul, Journalist Dr Timir Dey of Delhi, Prof Ratnajyoti Dutta of Assam.
The meeting started by observing a minute’s silence in memory of five Bengalis who were shot dead recently near Tinsukia.
