By IANS,
Subodh Nagar (Assam) : Arjun Namasdura has gone mad after being declared an illegal immigrant by the district administration, though his ancestors have been living in this small village of southern Assam’s Cachar district since the days of the British Raj.
Until recently Namasudra was like anybody else, a young man with a small business, earning for his elderly mother, wife and three children.
About a month ago, Namasudra was shocked to get a quit India notice from the Cachar district authorities claiming that he and his mother, Akal Rani, were Bangladeshis.
The shock was so great that Namasudra lost his mental balance. His relatives are now at their wits end.
“Such was the intensity of the shock that Arjun simply lost his mental balance and started behaving abnormally and even staying away from home for days together, sometimes staying on the roadside and eating leftovers from the garbage dumps,” his mother Rani told IANS.
Today Namasudra simply shouts at the top of his voice that he is an Indian and loves India.
“I love my country and I am an Indian,” Namasudra was heard shouting even as a team of policemen visited the neighbourhood where he stays to verify his antecedents.
There is every reason to be shocked on receiving the quit India notice as Namasudra’s forefathers inhabited the village since the British days.
“I am shocked and dismayed at the insensitive attitude of the administration as they served quit India notices to Arjun and his mother. I know for sure they are genuine Indians and their family is inhabiting the area for decades,” Ataur Rahman Majarbhuiya, a legislator belonging to the opposition Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), told IANS.
“I am very sad to find the boy (Arjun) becoming mad after getting the quit India notice. I visited their house recently and assured them of all help possible to prove their citizenship,” the legislator said.
Locals in the area too vouched for Namasudra and his mother’s citizenship saying their forebears were residents of their locality for ages. But authorities were unperturbed by the reports of Namasudra becoming insane.
“If they are foreigners they must leave and if Arjun has gone insane we shall get a medical check up done and take steps to expel him,” Cachar district police chief Violet Baruah said.
Interestingly, the Cachar district administration has served quit notices to 1,204 people since 2006, but only one has been expelled so far.
India and Bangladesh do not have any deportation treaty and hence suspected foreigners are simply pushed back across the border under the cover of darkness.
There are reports that a number of people who were earlier pushed back had re-entered India through different routes with the border still unfenced.