KOLKATA: The tragic death of a young man in his early-30s on Thursday triggered political uproar in Kolkata over the issue of the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) after the relatives of the deceased, who was found hanging with a rope tied around his neck, said he died by suicide fearing that the new act would “snatch away” his citizenship and he would be sent to a detention camp.
Debasis Sengupta, a resident of south Kolkata’s Netaji Nagar area, went to his relatives’ house in nearby Subhashnagar area and hung himself, said police.
When the ruling TMC alleged that the tragedy is a fall out of the Centre’s decision to implement the CAA, the BJP held chief minister Mamata Banerjee responsible for the death accusing her of spreading panic over the CAA’s implementation.
The TMC high-command sent a five-member team comprising ministers to meet Debasish’s family members. Sources in the ruling party said, the TMC is going to make the incident as its major poll-plank against the BJP and the CAA in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Debasish’s relatives alleged the unemployed youth was suffering from panic attacks since the announcement of CAA’s implementation. He was particularly concerened about his bed-ridden father Tapan Sengupta, who migrated from Bangladesh, and lacks proper documentation of his migration. “Citing his incorrect date of birth mentioned in the e-PIC card, Debasis was in fear that he would be sent to a detention camp,” said one of the relatives.
He had started suffering from the fear of losing citizenship after the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam in 2019, said an aunt of the deceased. “Citing thousands of people in Assam who were left out of the NRC’s final list, Debasish would fear that he would be sent to a detention camp. We made him understand that nothing of this sort would happen. But since the day of the announcement of the CAA’s implementation, he became panicky again. Since he had no birth certificate and proof of his father’s migration from Bangladesh, his fear become more intense,” she said.
Debasish went to his maternal uncle’s house in Subhashnagar, South 24 Parganas, on Wednesday and within 24 hours, his relatives discovered him hanging from the ceiling.
TMC spokesperson Arup Chakrabarty said the party feared that the contentious act would lead to thousands of legal citizens in Bengal in distress but had no idea that such a tragedy would happen. “Now don’t know how many such deaths we will have to witness in Bengal and across the country as well,” he said.
Lambasting the West Bengal chief minister, BJP spokesperson Pranay Roy said action should be taken against Mamata Banerjee for abetting the youth to commit suicide. “The CAA is to give citizenship, not take away. It was the chief minister who spread fear among the people of the state saying the new act would snatch their citizenship and send them to concentration camps. The youth is a victim of her false campaign against the CAA,” said Roy.