The families of the Gorkha patriots of Assam – Baijyanti Devi and Chabilal Upadhyay – have been excluded from the complete draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The names of Baijyanti Devi’s sister-in-law Nirmala Devi and nephews Rohitakash and Mihiran have appeared in the exclusion list released by the NRC authorities last Wednesday.
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It is quite shocking that the family members of Baijyanti Devi who is the first woman martyr of Assam Agitation had to be left out of the complete draft of the NRC.
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Gorkha freedom fighter Chabilal Upadhyay’s great granddaughter Manju Devi has also found place in the exclusion list.
Apart from the families of these two Gorkha patriots, another leading Gorkha lady Durga Khatiwada has also been excluded from the complete draft of the NRC.
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Durga Khatiwada is the president of the Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha and a Sahitya Akademi awardee.
While interacting with mediapersons during a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh national secretary Nanda Kirati Dewan said that the exclusion of the leading Gorkha people from the NRC is a matter of serious insult to the Gorkha community of Assam.
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Dewan said that Baijyanti Devi’s father Amar Upadhayay had been closely associated with the Assam Agitation and had also contested as an AGP candidate in the state assembly elections in 1991.
He also said that with the names of the politician’s daughter-in-law and two grandsons being featured in the exclusion list have only increased the woes of the 90-year-old man.
Dewan also said that Manju Devi who is the great grand daughter of the founder of the Congress party in Assam had been listed as a D voter.
He also added that the name of Durga Khatiwada’s father has been included in the NRC list of 1951.
Dewan further added that the matter of exlusion of names of the leading Gorkha people from the complete draft of NRC will soon be taken to court if it is not resolved within proper time.