KENDRAPARA: Union Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste on Sunday met a few Bangladeshi Hindu refugees settled in the district and assured them Indian citizenship soon.
The Minister visited the house of 57-year-old Nishikanta Sanna at Sarakarapada village in Mahakalapada block. He is one of the 1,551 Bangladeshi Hindu refugees, who in 2005, was issued ‘Quit India’ notice under Citizenship Act, 1955. Nishikanta said the spectre of deportation has been haunting him for the last 15 years.
“My father came to the village in 1970 from Khulna district of East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) as a registered refugee. But in 2005, the district administration illegally issued the ‘Quit India’ notice, branding me an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh. We have no right to vote as the authorities deleted our names from the voters’ list. We are not getting any assistance from the Government,” he said.
Kulaste assured Nishikanta that he along with other Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, who have settled in the seaside villages of the district will be granted Indian citizenship under the amended Citizenship Act.
Niranjan Sarakar of Hariabanka, Sarat Majumdar of Kharinashi and Ramesh Manna of Ramanagar, who were served ‘Quit India’ notices in 2005, also met Kulaste and lauded the Union Government for passing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament.
Orissa High Court-appointed Amicus Curiae Mohit Aggrawal had filed a report on November 26, 2018 seeking a directive to the Central and State Governments to update the National Register of Citizens in Kendrapara as a large number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have been destroying the mangrove forest and the ecology of Bhitarkanika National Park known as India's second-largest mangrove forest after Sundarbans of West Bengal.
Acting on the order of the court, Shakti Prakash, Assistant Commandant (Legal), Ministry of Home Affairs had directed the Registrar General of India last year to take further action as per the order of the court. “But the CAA has besmirched all the hopes of the authorities to deport us,” said 55-year-old Niranjan Sarkar of Hariabanka village.
“Now, I will become an Indian citizen. It has been possible because of the efforts of Modi-led NDA Government. Political parties opposing CAA are enemies of our country”, said Ramesh Manna (60) of Ramanagar whose father fled Rajshahi district of Bangladesh in 1972.