GUWAHATI, Dec 27 - The Deshi Janagosthiya Jatiya Samsad has demanded withdrawal of all the 'D' Voter-related cases against the Deshi Janagosthiya people.
Samsad president AAM Enamul Haque said the Deshi Janagosthiya people are the 'sons of the soil' of Assam. Clubbing them with the illegal migrants is very unfortunate. While the Deshi Janagosthiya people, whose forefathers belonged to the Meches, Koches, Rajbongshis etc indigenous ethnic groups of Assam, had embraced Islam several centuries back due to some socio-political reasons, the migrant Muslim are of Bangladesh origin. Hence, these two groups cannot be clubbed in the same group.
It is also regrettable that while the tea tribe people who were brought to Assam by the British colonialists during the AD 19th and 20th centuries, have been granted protection under section 3 (3) of the Citizenship Rule, the Deshi Janagosthiya people are made to grope in the dark to prove the genuineness of their citizenship, Haque said.
A delegation of the Samsad recently met chairman of the Grievances and Redressal Committee Raunak Ali Hazarika, DIG, Border Organisation, Assam Police and submitted a memorandum on the 'D' voter issue involving the Deshi Janagosthiya people. While submitting the memorandum, the Samsad delegation asserted that the historical as well as official records if searched properly, would confirm the claim made by the Samsad about the citizenship of the Deshi Janagosthiya people.
The delegation said that a great injustice would befall the Deshi Janagosthiya people if they are treated as the 'D' voters in line with the people belonging to migrant communities. The delegation was led by Haque and Samsad secretaries Emdadul Haque Khandakar and Monjirul Hossain Rana.