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”.
Published – July 12, 2025 01:48 am IST
