GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma clarified that the instance of a man who had 'temporarily' gone to West Bengal being issued a notice by a foreigners’ tribunal was just a 'judicial process'.
“It is a judicial process, but the State government has already recommended that (citizenship) cases against Koch-Rajbanshi people should be withdrawn. The process is on,” Sarma told the media after a cabinet meeting on July 10.
He was replying to a query about his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee’s statement that 'an NRC notice' was issued to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a Rajbanshi and resident of Dinhata in Cooch Behar, West Bengal for 50 years, by the Assam tribunal.
Sarma said Brajabasi should have informed the tribunal that he belongs to Koch-Rajbanshi community.
“He has two advocates but none of them informed the court that he is a Koch-Rajbanshi and that, the Assam government has already taken a decision to withdraw cases against people from this community,” Sarma said, adding if they had pleaded for withdrawal of the case as per a government office memorandum, it would have been withdrawn.
He also stated that Brajabasi was a citizen of Assam. “He is not a citizen of Bengal. He was a citizen of Assam. He has temporarily gone to Bengal,” the Assam chief minister said.
Earlier, Banerjee had expressed “shock” over the notice issued to Brajabasi. She alleged that the man was being harassed on suspicion of being a “foreigner/illegal migrant” even after he had furnished valid identity documents.
“This is nothing short of a systematic assault on democracy. It is a proof that the ruling BJP dispensation in Assam is attempting to implement NRC in Bengal, where it holds no power or jurisdiction,” the All India Trinamool Congress chief stated.
She alleged that a premeditated attempt was being made to intimidate, disenfranchise, and target marginalised communities. “This unconstitutional overreach is anti-people, and exposes BJP’s dangerous agenda of bulldozing democratic safeguards and erasing the identity of Bengal's people,” she said.
She added that this 'alarming' situation called for urgent unity among all Opposition parties to stand up against BJP’s 'divisive and oppressive machinery'.