Freedom Fighter Sashindranath Bhattacharya's Family Excluded from Final NRC List

Sarupathar, September 2, 2019:

In a surprising turn-of-events, the kin of Sashindranath Bhattacharya, an Indian Freedom Struggle hero, have been left out of the final NRC draft, which was published on Saturday.

The much-awaited draft was published amid a lot of controversies. Despite numerous assurances from the Government that all genuine citizens would find a place in the NRC, many indigenous people of Assam -- including the family of the Independence struggle hero -- were left out of the NRC.

In 1972, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had honored the freedom fighter Sashindranath Bhattacharya at Jorhat. Similarly, he was also honored by former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in 1997.

However, after the NRC was published, it did not include the names of the great freedom fighter's son, Sameer, not that of his daughter-in-law, Champa. Moreover, their two children's names were also left out.

The family of the freedom fighter has no option but to plead the government to see to it that their names are included in the final NRC list.

The exclusion of such a renowned family from the list, and that too after showing all the required documents, is truly baffling.

It may be mentioned here that the NRC authority has declared that the non-inclusion of a person’s name in the NRC does not amount to his/her being declared a foreigner. Moreover, every individual kept out of the final NRC can appeal to the Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT). The time limit for filing appeals on FTs has been increased from 60-120 days.

The Government of Assam has also promised legal aid to those needy people who have been excluded from NRC, through the District Legal Services Authorities. An increased number of FTs are being established at convenient locations.

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