Latest news with #Koch-Rajbanshis
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
West Bengal resident who got notice over citizenship is from Assam, says Himanta
GUWAHATI A resident of West Bengal, who received a notice from a Foreigners' Tribunal (FT), was a citizen of Assam but he should have informed the tribunal that his community has been exempted from citizenship cases, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma said on Thursday evening. He was responding to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that an Assam tribunal issued a notice over citizenship to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a resident of Cooch Behar district's Dinhata for 50 years and a member of the Koch-Rajbanshi community. An FT is a quasi-judicial set-up that tries cases of people suspected and marked as foreigners by the border wing of the Assam Police. Depending on the FT's verdict, a person is detained and deported to the country of his or her origin. 'Brajabasi is not a citizen of Bengal, where he went temporarily. He is a citizen of Assam,' Mr. Sarma said. 'The notice he received is a judicial process, but the State government has recommended the withdrawal of citizenship cases against the Koch-Rajbanshi people. This is being processed,' he said. Mr. Sarma faulted Mr. Brajabasi and his two advocates for not informing the tribunal that he is a Koch-Rajbanshi. 'The case would have been removed if they had pleaded for withdrawal of the case according to a government office memorandum,' he said. The Koch-Rajbanshis are among several communities, including Bengali Hindus and Muslims, who have migrated from or taken refuge in Assam from Bangladesh. A few days ago, Ms Banerjee expressed 'shock' over the notice issued to Mr 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 proof that the ruling BJP dispensation in Assam is attempting to implement NRC in Bengal, where it holds no power or jurisdiction,' she stated. Ms. Banerjee sniffed a premeditated attempt to intimidate, disenfranchise, and target marginalised communities. 'This unconstitutional overreach is anti-people, and exposes the BJP's dangerous agenda of bulldozing democratic safeguards and erasing the identity of Bengal's people,' she said. She further said that this 'alarming' situation called for unity among all Opposition parties to stand up against the BJP's 'divisive and oppressive machinery'.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
KLO chief accuses Mamata govt of ‘police, political terror', TMC calls him BJP's stooge
Accusing the TMC government of 'political and police terror' against the Koch and Rajbanshis communities in West Bengal, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) chief Jibon Singh has asked people to rise against 'Kolkata Sarkar'. The TMC linked the KLO chief's statement with the controversy over a notice issued by the Assam government to a farmer in Cooch Behar, alleging Singh has been acting on BJP's behalf. In a video message shared on social media, the head of the banned outfit said: 'To all my Koch-Rajbanshis friends. The outsider Kolkata Sarkar has illegally, unconstitutionally and forcefully captured the Cooch Behar state. They are allowing infiltration of Bangladeshis, which has made Koch and Rajbanshis minorities in their own land.' 'They have been carrying out police and political terror on Koch-Rajbanshis in a planned manner for a long time… They are arresting the Koch and Rajbanshis, houses torched, and jobs and businesses being usurped,' said Singh, also known as Tamir Das Kamtapur Liberation Organisation was formed in 1995 to wage an armed struggle for a separate state for Koch-Rajbanshis. 'I appeal to all communities of Kamtapur, Koch, Rajbanshis, Adivasis, Gorkha, Bengalis and others. Come let us all come together against this oppressive government and rescue our Kamtapuri state,' he added. TMC spokesperson and chairman of North Bengal State Transport Corporation, Partha Pratim Roy, said that the KLO chief 'is a BJP man'. 'Whenever the BJP is in a crisis in North Bengal, he shares anti-government messages. Even before the elections, he shares messages. Now, the BJP is in a crisis following the Assam government trying to impose NRC on our residents. So, he is coming out with these messages,' Roy said, referring to a Cooch Behar farmer being served notice by the Foreigners tribunal in Assam to prove his citizenship. The KLO is a banned militant outfit operating in Assam and West Bengal the primary demand of which is a separate Kamtapur state, including six districts of north Bengal (Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin and Malda), four states of lower Assam (Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, and Goalpara), Kishanganj in Bihar and Jhapa in Nepal. The Koch-Rajbanshis. are estimated to number over 33 lakh in West Bengal, accounting for more than 30 per cent of the electorate in north Bengal. Ravik Bhattacharya is the Chief of Bureau of The Indian Express, Kolkata. Over 20 years of experience in the media industry and covered politics, crime, major incidents and issues, apart from investigative stories in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Andaman Nicobar islands. Ravik won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 for political reporting. Ravik holds a bachelor degree with English Hons from Scottish Church College under Calcutta University and a PG diploma in mass communication from Jadavpur University. Ravik started his career with The Asian Age and then moved to The Statesman, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. ... Read More
