Parisangha to put in place legal mechanism to guide ‘left-out’ people
From Saurav Borah
GUWAHATI: The names of an estimated one-lakh Gorkha people of Assam did not feature in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), but many still have not lost hope and are now raring to put up yet another “fight for Indian citizenship”.
Take the case of Sanjib Upadhyaya of Balijan Bangali village in central Assam’s Sonitpur district, who will have to go through the rigmarole of yet another submission before a foreigners’ tribunal because his name and that of his minor daughter are missing in the final list released on Saturday.
“I was marked a doubtful voter and my name did not feature in the complete draft last year despite submitting valid documents, including 1951 legacy data of my father and grandfather who are Indian citizens and original residents of Singri Totla village in Sonitpur district. Since then I had filed claims and appeared in two hearings only to find our names missing in the final NRC. This, despite the foreigners’ tribunal disposing of the reference case in my favour and declaring that I am not a doubtful citizen as alleged,” a concerned Upadhyaya told The Shillong Times on Monday.
But the 49-year-old lower primary school teacher is all geared up to put up a second fight for the foreigners’ tribunal to declare him Indian, and quite ironically for yet another time.
“I am told that since I have the foreigners’ tribunal (FT) order declaring the case in my favour, the process hereafter will be easier. But I will have to re-submit my documents,” he said.
While a majority of Gorkha people with FT clearances from Upadhyaya’s area have made the NRC cut, the others in and around Dhekiajuli and the rest of the state who are still in “no man’s land” are also preparing to take it to the last mile.
Fifty six-year-old Chandra Chetry’s case is no different either. His name and that of two of his sons does not feature in the final NRC. Others in his family have been lucky to find their names in the list.
“It is rather strange that despite being the son of a freedom fighter, having 1951 legacy documents and exercised my franchise since 1985, I have been arbitrarily marked a doubtful voter. So far, I have appeared in three hearings in separate locations. But my fight for a logical conclusion will not relent as I am confident that justice would be served,” Chetry, a farmer, from Nalbari village in Sotea (Biswanath district), said.
The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha, meanwhile, is gearing up to put in place a legal fraternity to groom a para-legal community across Assam to play mentor to these people whose fate hinges on proper legal recourse.
“We are setting up a legal mechanism to help the people to present their cases before the foreigners’ tribunals. The para-legal community will be trained by the legal team to guide the needy. A common template regarding the requisite documents to be submitted to the foreigners’ tribunals has also been prepared,” Nanda Kirati Dewan, national secretary (youth affairs) Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha, told The Shillong Times.
The Parisangha will also arrange for mock drills to assuage any apprehension many gullible people from the community might have and orient them to present their cases with confidence at the foreigners’ tribunals.
“This way, we are hopeful that the exclusions would be minimized. As it is, we have as many as 20,000 D (doubtful)-voters and many cases with no reference in foreigners’ tribunals or where there has been a mismatch of surnames. The old cases have never been heard with many arbitrarily marked D-voters during the intensive revision in 1997 and 2005,” Dewan said.