BJP MLA appears before tribunal to prove citizenship

SILCHAR: Borkhola MLA Kishore Nath of BJP appeared before foreigners' tribunal No 1 in Silchar to prove his Indian citizenship on Thursday.
Nath and six other members of his family, including his wife Nilima Nath, his brothers Matilal Nath, Pradip Nath, Jagdish Nath, Manik Nath and his sister-in-law Rakhi Nath had been summoned before the tribunal headed by judge Dulal Saha at 10 am on Thursday.

The lawmaker, a resident of Tarapur locality of Ward No 28 of the Silchar municipality, was served the notice by the tribunal last week.

Sources said Nath, a first-time MLA elected from Borkhola constituency of Cachar district in 2016, produced land documents dating to 1945 to prove his citizenship. His wife Nilima Nath, on the other hand, submitted her father Dewan Sinha's metric certificate of 1950 to prove her citizenship. Other members of the MLA's family also produced necessary documents before the tribunal, added sources.

The MLA later told media persons that he has presented all necessary documents to the foreigners' tribunal in favour of his Indian citizenship. "There's a conspiracy behind serving me notice to prove my Indian citizenship. I will ask the authorities to see how the border police can serve such notices to a lawmaker. If I am harassed in such a manner, what will be the fate of common people in the state? I will fight against this," Nath said.

The BJP MLA added he will try to ensure other people do not face similar harassment in the name of proving their Indian citizenship.

The MLA's advocate, Santanu Nayek, said all necessary documents have been produced before the tribunal to prove his client's Indian citizenship and that witnesses were also produced to establish his citizenship. The next date of the hearing will be fixed later, he added.

Foreigners' tribunals in the state continue to issue notices to suspected citizens across the state with the process of updating the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) reaching its final stage. March 24, 1971 is being considered as the cut-off date for the update process and the final list is set to be published before June 30 as had been directed by the Supreme Court, quashing a request by the state government to delay the publication.