Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee is furious after a farmer from West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, close to the Assam border, received a notice asking him to submit valid documents to prove that he is not an “illegal migrant or foreigner.”
Interestingly, the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam’s Kamrup district sent the notice to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a farmer from Sadialer Kuthi, a remote village in Cooch Behar.
The ‘shocked and deeply disturbed’ West Bengal chief minister hit out at the BJP, claiming that its government in Assam was trying to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal.
“I am shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam has issued an NRC notice to Uttam Kumar Brajabasi, a Rajbanshi, resident of Dinhata in Cooch Behar for over 50 years. Despite furnishing valid identity documents, he is being harassed on suspicion of being a foreigner/illegal migrant. This calls for urgent unity among all opposition parties to stand up against BJP’s divisive and oppressive machinery. Bengal will not stand by as the Constitutional fabric of India is torn apart,” Mamata wrote on X on Tuesday.
As per the notice, Brajabasi entered Assam without any valid document during “1.1.1966 to 24.03.1971”.
“Reference reveals that you could not produce any valid document before the police during enquiry/verification regarding your Indian citizenship within the stipulated period of time… You are suspected to be an illegal immigrant,” states the notice which the farmer received in January.
“I am so poor that I never even left Cooch Behar. I am shocked that the Assam tribunal claims I entered that state as an illegal immigrant. I tried to resolve the issue with the help of a lawyer, but the tribunal has given me a deadline of July 15 to prove my citizenship,” Brajabasi told mediapersons.
The farmer, who has submitted documents of his father and grandfather to prove his citizenship, claimed that he has been asked to submit more documents within July 15, failing which he would be treated as a ‘foreigner’.
He has approached the Cooch Behar district magistrate, seeking help.
The issue came to light after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Samirul Islam flagged it on social media on Monday night.
“We have got in touch with the authorities in Kamrup district. We are also sending them a mail with all documents of Brajabasi. He is a resident of Cooch Behar,” said Arvind Kumar Mina, district magistrate of Cooch Behar.
‘Full-blown war on Bengalis’
The Trinamool-helmed Bengal government has been extremely vocal against the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC in India.
In a post from the party’s official X handle, Trinamool linked the Brajabasi case to the proposed special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, and claimed it to be a tool to harass Bengalis ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
“It’s a full-blown war on Bengalis. A CULTURAL PURGE designed by a party that simply can’t stomach rejection. They lost Bengal. Now they want REVENGE,” the party posted on X.