Citizen woes hit weddings

The entry point to Assam’s Chagolia at Baxirhat in Cooch Behar. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti 

MAIN UDDIN CHISTI, TT,  Aug 13, 2018, Cooch Behar: The ripple effect of the publication of the National Register of Citizens' final draft in Assam is felt in the marriage market of Cooch Behar as well.

Several families in Cooch Behar district have decided against marrying off girls to Assam because of the cumbersome process of collecting documents to get their names included in the NRC.

Sushanta Burman, a resident of Cooch Behar's Baxirhat, which is located near the Assam border, had made a couple of trips to Golokganj in Dhubri district of Assam to fix the marriage of his relative in July.

But recently, he said, the girl's family has changed the decision and is planning to find her groom from within Bengal.

"After the publication of the second draft of the NRC, it has been found that several women from Bengal, who are married in Assam, do not have their names on the list. These women are now running from pillar to post collecting documents from their parents' place. We have come across a number of such cases in Cooch Behar district. That is why my relative has decided not get his daughter married in Assam as she might face similar problems," said Sushanta, a trader.

Several girls from Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, the two Bengal districts which share border with Assam, were married off in the neighbouring state, mostly in the adjoining districts of Dhubri and Kokrajhar.

"Two of my daughters stay in Assam, one in Dhubri and the other in Guwahati. We had to face problems in collecting necessary documents to enrol them in the NRC. My younger daughter is a final-year under-graduate student of Cooch Behar College. I do not want to face the problems again and will not fix her marriage in Assam," said a resident of Cooch Behar.

Matchmakers also said the publication of the NRC - that does not have names of as many as 40 lakh people - was discouraging parents from fixing marriage of their daughters in Assam.

"I have fixed marriages of several girls from Cooch Behar in Assam but in the past 15 days, there has been a major change. Parents are not ready to get their daughters married in Assam. Even the girls are unwilling. Many parents have instead told me to find prospective grooms from other north Bengal districts and adjoining areas in Bihar," said a matchmaker in Cooch Behar.

Mohammad Abdul Habib Sarkar, who registers Muslim marriages in Cooch Behar, said: "It is a practice in Cooch Behar to search for prospective grooms in Assam. But of late, a number of parents are not responding to marriage proposals from the neighbouring state," he said.

On August 2, The Telegraph reported how a homemaker, who is from Cooch Behar and stays in Assam, had managed to get her name included in the NRC by submitting old deeds of her father's family which were sealed and stamped by the erstwhile Cooch Behar royals.

Many young girls said they didn't want to marry anyone from Assam because of the NRC fiasco.

"My elder sister stays in Bongaigaon and her name is not in NRC. Our family as well as her in-laws are worried and are running pillar to post to collect documents. My family is looking for a groom for me and I do not want to face a similar experience," said a girl who studies in Cooch Behar B.T. & Evening College.