A 50-year-old farmer from Sadialer Kuthi, a remote village in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, has received a notice from the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam’s Kamrup district asking him to submit valid documents to prove that he is not an “illegal migrant or foreigner.”.
The development has sparked a political row in the eastern state, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Assam was trying to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal.
“I am shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam has issued an NRC notice to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a Rajbanshi, resident of Dinhata in Cooch Behar for over 50 years. Despite furnishing valid identity documents, he is being harassed on suspicion of being a foreigner/illegal migrant. This calls for urgent unity among all opposition parties to stand up against BJP’s divisive and oppressive machinery. Bengal will not stand by as the Constitutional fabric of India is torn apart,” Banerjee wrote on X on Tuesday.
The farmer, Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, claimed that his family has been living in the village for at least five generations and that he has never been out of West Bengal.
{{/usCountry}}The farmer, Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, claimed that his family has been living in the village for at least five generations and that he has never been out of West Bengal.
{{/usCountry}}“I received a notice in January this year through the police. As I can’t read and write well, I showed it to my neighbors. They said that it was an NRC-notice from Assam. I am really scared,” Brajabasi told media persons.
The notice, sent to him by the tribunal in December 2024, stated that Brajabasi had illegally stayed in Assam without any valid document between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971, and that he was currently residing at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district.
“Therefore, as per provision of order 3(1) of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964, you are asked to appear in person or by concerned lawyer engaged by you before this Foreigners Tribunal on January 6, 2025, at 10am to show cause supported by valid documents as admissible to prove that you are not a foreigner/illegal migrant as required under section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946. Upon failure to respond to this notice on your part, the Tribunal shall proceed to decide the reference ex-parte,” the notice stated.
“I have never been to Assam nor do I have any relatives there. I was born and brought up in Dinhata. Even my grandfather and father are from the same village,” he told media persons.
Brajabasi also said that he hired a lawyer to represent his case at the tribunal and submitted documents of his father and grandfather to prove his citizenship. He claimed that he was asked to submit more documents within July 15, failing which he would be treated as a foreigner.
The developments came to light after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Samirul Islam flagged it on social media late on Monday evening.
“After the incident came to light on Monday, we got in touch with the authorities in Kamrup district. We are also sending them mail today with all documents of Brajabasi on Tuesday. He is a resident of Cooch Behar,” said Arvind Kumar Mina, district magistrate of Cooch Behar.
“This is nothing short of a systematic assault on democracy. It is proof that the ruling BJP dispensation in Assam is attempting to implement NRC in Bengal, where it holds no power or jurisdiction. A premeditated attempt is 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,” Banerjee wrote on X.
The BJP, however, has hit back alleging that the TMC was creating a false narrative and that the Assam government has already decided to keep the Koch – Rajbangshi community out of the NRC process.
“False narrative being peddled by @MamataOfficial regarding an alleged notice issued by one FRO court from Assam. But the fact of the matter is @CMOfficeAssam has already taken a decision to keep Koch-Rajbangshi out of NRC process rather state cabinet took firm stand to withdraw all pending cases against Koch-Rajbangshi community as far as NRC is concerned,” Jagannath Chattopadhyay, state general secretary of the BJP wrote on X.