West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock after a Coochbehar resident in the state was served an NRC notice by the Assam government, calling it “a systemic assault on democracy”.
She posted on X, “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 and 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’.”
Banerjee claimed, “… 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 the BJP’s dangerous agenda of bulldozing democratic safeguards and erasing the identity of Bengal’s people.”
She said that the alleged incident calls for “urgent unity” among all Opposition parties against the BJP’s “divisive and oppressive machinery”.
Brajabasi claimed he never went outside the Coochbehar district and that his family has been residents of the area for five generations. The notice mentioned that he has to prove his Indian citizenship by July 15, claiming that his family entered from the Assam border in the 1970s. Brajabasi said he is afraid he will be sent to a detention camp.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA and leader Sushil Barman said, “This is another baseless campaign of TMC. There is no truth in it. If this happened, the West Bengal government has to take responsibility for this.”
North Bengal Development Minister and Dinhata TMC MLA Udayan Guha said, “The BJP is basically anti-Bengali. They are taking revenge on Bengalis because Bengal never voted for the BJP.
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The Trinamool Congress on their official X handle posted, “A resident of Dinhata, Cooch Behar is being hunted like a criminal by Assam’s Foreigners Tribunal. Despite submitting every valid identity proof, he’s being hounded and asked to cough up electoral rolls from every election between 1966 and 2008…”
