Gorkha paper push for NRC

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Aug 18, 2018, Darjeeling: Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has written to Union home minister Rajnath Singh seeking recognition of British-era documents for inclusion in Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Gogoi has pointed out that nearly 1 lakh indigenous Gorkhas of Assam have been excluded from the July 30 NRC draft that left out a total of 40 lakh people. "Their names have not appeared in the final draft owning to lack of papers prescribed," Gogoi said in his August 14 letter.

Gogoi - the son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi - has demanded that papers like "grazing permits" and "khuti (dwelling) permits" be accepted. "These documents, though not on the prescribed list, will help genuine Indian citizens of the indigenous Gorkha community prove permanent resident status before 1971 (the NRC cut-off date)," the letter says.

Sources said the MP was apprised about the problem by the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, an apolitical organisation.

"On August 8, we met Gaurav Gogoi and requested him that grazing permits, khuti permits, cattle tax revenue receipts, forest royalty papers - some of which are from the British era -should also be recognised as valid documents to prove citizenship," Munish Tamang, working president of the Parisangh who is also a professor at Delhi University, said over phone from the capital.

In his letter, Gogoi has mentioned that many Hindi and Bengali-speaking people, who migrated to Assam from the heartland and Bengal, have also not found their names in the draft.

The Congress MP has said that officers with knowledge of Hindi and Urdu be involved in updating the NRC draft. "These members have found themselves excluded owing to lack of officers who can read the Hindi and Urdu documents submitted by them," Gogoi has said in his letter.