By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: Tagging someone with ‘Doubtful Voter’ or D voter is not a new thing in Assam. On several occasions people have been tagged as ‘llegal’ Bangladeshi so as to include these ill-fated people in D voters’ list.
Out of all these, we have picked one Akmat Ali from a remotest part of the state in Barpeta district to tell his tale to the readers of TwoCircles.net. Ali, an old man, old enough to fight for his cause, at the ripe age 98, has almost given up fighting to prove his nationality.
Akmat Ali at his residence
For this man who has been a daily wage earner after losing his land to erosion at Sitoli at Mandia area in Barpeta district life is more than a series of bloody war. And most of the times he has to surrender to his enemies called adversities of nature and of course political as well.
Now, it’s dark and dreary for this old man after time and again he has been branded as D voter in spite of the fact that he was born and brought up in this very land. He has lost his money and energy running to post and pillar to prove his nationality.
“It seems to be enough for me. I have almost lost everything in my life – starting from my land to may nationality. I have lost my energy and money in fighting. It seems to be over for me,” said Ali after Gauhati High Court marked him as Doubtful Citizen. However, his named features in several valid documents.
Due to some error his name was written as Anchoo Mia in the voters’ list of 1966 and thereafter till 1971. After that it was corrected as Akmat Ali which was also found in his land documents of 1951. He was served notice in the year 2003 for the first time as a D voter.
It has been a difficult path for the illiterate man to a give fight to prove his nationality though he nurtures dream to move Supreme Court seeking justice. “I don’t know if I can do it. But people say that going to Supreme Court can provide me justice. I’m left with no money now. It will be good if my sons can do it for me,” he said pointing to his sons who also work in the neighbourhood as daily wage earner.
Ali who was born to Basiruddin and Rahitan Begum has also been a witness to the 1950 riots in lower Assam.
The interesting point in his story is that all his family members – his sons and daughter in laws are regarded as Indian citizen.
“It’s seems to be very funny. When his sons are Indian, how can be Ali be a Bangladeshi? I think there must have something wrong in the calculation,” said a neighbour of Ali.
It can also be mentioned that after Ali was branded as D voter, his neighbours had called for a meeting and took a resolution of declaring him to be a native of that locality. However, the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to the decision of the locals who had said of knowing Ali for a long time and a resident of that place.
Now, after losing his plot of lands to the erosion of Bhelengi River (tributary of Brahmaputra) and his nationality to some miscalculation of government agency, Ali sees a gloomy future.
Related:
From where have all the ‘Bangaldeshis’ come? A brief history of Muslims in Assam