SILIGURI, 27 OCT: Echoing the apprehension voiced by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) leadership regarding the alleged GJMM stratagem to provide Indian citizenship to the Nepalese inhabiting the Dooars, the former urban development minister and a senior CPI-M leader, Mr Asok Bhattacharya, today said many such Nepali people had already managed Indian citizenship in the Dooars-Terai region by fraudulent means.
The ABAVP leaders have lodged a complaint with the chairman of the state government-appointed land verification committee, retired judge Mr Shyamal Sen recently, alleging that the ulterior motive behind the GJMM's land clamour in the Adivasi-majority region was to provide the nine lakh Bhupalese with the Indian citizenship by proxy. Lakhs of Nepalese settled in Bhutan, known as Bhupalese, were forced to move out of Bhutan in the 1980s after the kingdom-government tightened citizen rules in the country. Most of these people have settled in several areas across the Dooars over the years.
Mr Bhattacharya said many such people had already managed Indian citizenship over the past few years. “They have managed ration cards and voter’ identity cards by fraudulent means,” he said. “Recently I went to Nepal. I discovered that getting into Nepal is difficult. But it is too easy to obtain everything, including Indian citizenship,” he said.
Expressing concern over the trend, the president of a Bagdogra-based voluntary organisation, Jana Chetana, Dr DP Kar, said that apart from the Bhupalese, thousands of Nepalese were migrating, settling and managing Indian citizenship by various means.
“And the most amazing part of the story is the lackadaisical attitude of both the Centre and the state government over the matter. We are not demanding scrapping of the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty. We just want the Centre to implement the international treaty in its right spirit,” he said.
Another Malbazar-based voluntary organisation, Jana Jagaran, which has also lodged an objection with Mr Shyamal Sen regarding the GJMM’s land clamour in the Dooars, has challenged the legality of the land verification on the ground of the Extra Ordinary Gazette Notification issued by the Union home ministry in 1988.
“The state government’s decision amounts to negating the Notification which has clarified the status of the 1950 treaty beneficiaries as distinguished from the genuine Indian citizens,” said the outfit’s spokesperson, Mr Santanu Sarkar.
“This apart, the state government should have sought permission from the ITDP (Integrated Tribal Development Project) commissioner before moving to form the committee concerned,” he added.
The ABAVP leaders have lodged a complaint with the chairman of the state government-appointed land verification committee, retired judge Mr Shyamal Sen recently, alleging that the ulterior motive behind the GJMM's land clamour in the Adivasi-majority region was to provide the nine lakh Bhupalese with the Indian citizenship by proxy. Lakhs of Nepalese settled in Bhutan, known as Bhupalese, were forced to move out of Bhutan in the 1980s after the kingdom-government tightened citizen rules in the country. Most of these people have settled in several areas across the Dooars over the years.
Mr Bhattacharya said many such people had already managed Indian citizenship over the past few years. “They have managed ration cards and voter’ identity cards by fraudulent means,” he said. “Recently I went to Nepal. I discovered that getting into Nepal is difficult. But it is too easy to obtain everything, including Indian citizenship,” he said.
Expressing concern over the trend, the president of a Bagdogra-based voluntary organisation, Jana Chetana, Dr DP Kar, said that apart from the Bhupalese, thousands of Nepalese were migrating, settling and managing Indian citizenship by various means.
“And the most amazing part of the story is the lackadaisical attitude of both the Centre and the state government over the matter. We are not demanding scrapping of the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty. We just want the Centre to implement the international treaty in its right spirit,” he said.
Another Malbazar-based voluntary organisation, Jana Jagaran, which has also lodged an objection with Mr Shyamal Sen regarding the GJMM’s land clamour in the Dooars, has challenged the legality of the land verification on the ground of the Extra Ordinary Gazette Notification issued by the Union home ministry in 1988.
“The state government’s decision amounts to negating the Notification which has clarified the status of the 1950 treaty beneficiaries as distinguished from the genuine Indian citizens,” said the outfit’s spokesperson, Mr Santanu Sarkar.
“This apart, the state government should have sought permission from the ITDP (Integrated Tribal Development Project) commissioner before moving to form the committee concerned,” he added.
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