An apolitical association of the Gorkhas said on Saturday that “around
a lakh” community members living in Assam have been excluded from the
final National Register of Citizens.
The claim is likely to have
political ramifications beyond the northeastern state and churn
political equations in the Darjeeling hills and surrounding areas of
north Bengal that have the highest density of Gorkhas.
According
to Nityananda Upadhyay, president of the Assam state committee of the
Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha, around two-and-a-half million Gorkhas
reside in Assam. The exclusion of over one lakh — around 4 per cent of
the total — from the NRC has come as a shock to the Parisangha.
“As
of now, it seems the number of individuals (Gorkhas) who do not have
their names is around one lakh. However, we are waiting for the final
data to reach us in two to three days,” said Upadhyay. The final NRC
published on Saturday does not have names of over 19 lakh people
residing in Assam.
Upadhyay did not explain how the association arrived at the
exclusion figure of 1 lakh Gorkhas. “This is an estimate based on the
reports that we are getting from the ground,” he said.
Other
representatives of the Parisangha — an apolitical, social organisation
that enjoys the support of most prominent Gorkha leaders — said they
would engage their legal teams to take up in foreigners’ tribunals cases
of those whose names have not featured in the NRC.
Nanda Kirati
Dewan, the national secretary (youth affairs) of the Parisangha, said
the association would soon take up such cases with the foreigners’
tribunals.
The Parisangha will also spread the message so that
those excluded from the NRC get in touch with the organisation and its
representatives to approach foreigners’ tribunals.
Other members
of the Parisangha recalled it was almost a century ago that the Gorkhas
started settling to Assam — especially after the British came to India —
where they were engaged as soldiers or workers in the tea industry.
The
ripples of the NRC will be felt in the Darjeeling Hills and other
Gorkha-dominated areas in north Bengal, said several political
observers. The NRC pot has been boiling in these parts of Bengal since
the draft list was published last year.
Amid questions on what
will happen to the Gorkhas, the BJP leaders had put a brave face and had
assured that names of Gorkhas will be there in the list while the Binay
Tamang faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Trinamul were critical of
the BJP for playing divisive card for narrow political gains.
“BJP
leaders, including the new MP of Darjeeling Raju Bista, have time and
again mentioned that Gorkhas should not panic. But given the estimate
rolled out by the Parisangha, it is clear that the reality is something
else. It would be interesting to see how BJP handles the situation
here,” said an observer.
The party has managed to secure the
support of Gorkhas in Darjeeling and neighbouring areas at the
Parliament elections for the third time in a row. The fact that the
majority of Gorkhas sided with the BJP became clear as the party won
seven out of the 8 Lok Sabha seats in North Bengal.
“If a number
of Gorkhas are excluded from NRC, it would obviously put the BJP in an
awkward situation. Also, a number of other parties like Trinamul and the
Binay Tamang lobby of Morcha will spare no time in picking up the
issue,” the observer added.
Tamang, who was earlier critical at BJP on the NRC issue, said they are collecting details from Assam.
“We
are in the process of collecting information about the final draft…
Once we have the details, we will assert our stand and further plans,”
said Tamang.
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