Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: A number of Gorkha organizations of Assam have asked State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela reply as to why he has dropped around 85,000 names of Gorkhas staying in the State from the final NRC, even as they have documents to back their citizenship status. The organizations have said that if the State NRC Coordinator does not respond to the question, they will start an agitation in the State from September 19, and file FIRs against Hajela in various police stations in the State.
Addressing a press conference at Dispur Press Club on Friday, All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union (AAGSU) president Prem Tamang said: “State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela has to reply as to why he has dropped around 85,000 Gorkhas staying in Assam from the final NRC. All these people have submitted documents to prove their citizenship status. As of now, we’re under calm. If Hajela takes more time to respond to our question, we’ll start filing FIRs in various police stations in the State against him.”
Rejecting the idea of moving foreigners tribunals (FTs), Tamang said: “Why should we move the FTs? We aren’t foreigners. Assam has around 25 lakh Gorkhas, and around 85,000 of them have been declared ineligible for inclusion in the NRC. The Gorkhas in Assam have a problem of ‘D’ voters. However, the State Government has never tried to solve the problem.”
Former MP and president of Asom Gorkha Sanmilani RP Sarmah said: “If the Gorkhas are dropped from the NRC, the jaati, maati aru bheti of the Assamese will be at stake. The Gorkhas in Assam identify themselves as Assamese, not as Nepalis. According to the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty, any Gorkha can come to India and any Indian can go to Nepal. Gorkhas started to come to India since 1816 when the Treaty of Sugauli was signed.”
Representatives of organizations like the Assam branch of the All Gorkha Sanmilan, Nepali Sahitya Parishad, Assam branch of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh and a few Gorkha intellectuals present at the press meet said that ‘if the indigenous people of Assam who have been declared ineligible for inclusion in the final NRC don’t move FTs, we’ll follow suit’. Former minister Padam Bahadur Chouhan and Asom Nepali Sahitya Sabha president Durga Khotiwara were also present at the press meet, besides a number of other Gorkha leaders and intellectuals.
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