Cooch Behar, July 26 (Siliguri Chronicle) – Nishikant Das, a resident of Cooch Behar, has been asked by Assam’s Foreigners Tribunal to prove he is an Indian citizen—26 years after he was detained by Assam police on suspicion of being an undocumented Bangladeshi during a work trip.
Das’s case has surfaced at a time when the Opposition is strongly protesting the special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. The Election Commission claims it has already removed 65 lakh names as part of the drive.
The Opposition has slammed the Election Commission’s special drive, calling it a move by the Narendra Modi government to strip millions of poor citizens of their voting rights. Under the exercise, documents like voter ID and Aadhaar are accepted only for limited identification purposes—not as proof of citizenship.
Nishikant Das, 75, is the third Hindu Bengali from north Bengal to receive a notice from Assam’s Foreigners Tribunal, asking him to prove his Indian citizenship.
“I showed documents before the tribunal like land ownership, my voters’ identity card and also the Aadhaar card. The tribunal rejected those,” Das told TV channels.
Das said the tribunal has asked him to submit documents proving that his late father, Debendra, was a registered voter in India.
The notice, issued in Assamese under the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process, accuses Das of entering Assam illegally after March 25, 1971—a key cut-off date used to identify undocumented migrants in the state.
“Many years ago I went to Guwahati to work as a labourer,” Das said. “That time too I was detained by the Assam police on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi. After I showed all my documents I was released. After staying in Guwahati for six more months, I returned to my home. Since then I have not visited Guwahati.”
Das said he has collected documents proving that his late father was a legitimate Indian voter. However, he told reporters he has decided not to submit them to the tribunal.
Earlier this year, another Cooch Behar resident, Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, was among the first Bengali-speaking people living in Bengal to be summoned by Assam’s Foreigners Tribunal. Brajabasi had claimed he had never even left Cooch Behar.
Earlier this week, a woman named Anjali Seal from Falakata was also served a similar notice by the Assam tribunal.
Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, one of the earlier recipients, recently attended Mamata Banerjee’s annual July 21 rally at Esplanade. With the Bengal Assembly polls on the horizon, the Trinamool Congress is using these notices to target the BJP, portraying it as an anti-Bengali party. The majority of detentions and pushbacks reported from BJP-ruled states have involved Bengali-speaking Muslims.
