Gorkhas living in Assam will no longer have to fear the threat of being tagged as foreigners and D (doubtful) voters.
The Assam Cabinet on Wednesday evening decided that no new cases would be registered against Gorkhas in the Foreigner Tribunals and the pending cases would also be withdrawn.
"This will provide a relief to the Gorkhas, many of whom are facing a legal battle in the tribunals. The tag of D (doubtful) voters, against whom cases are pending in Foreigner Tribunals will also be removed," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Guwahati.
Sarma said the decision was taken after going through court orders related to Gorkhas, MHA notifications, various Clauses of the Foreigner Tribunal Act, The Citizenship Act, 1955 and some other documents.
Many Gorkhas have been left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is being updated in Assam with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date to segregate Indian citizens from foreigners. Over 19.06 lakh people, out of 3.26 lakh applicants, were left out of the updated NRC, which was released in August 2019.
Those against whom cases are pending in the tribunals are tagged as D (doubtful) voters are even prohibited from casting votes.
Gorkhas, however, have been demanding that their cases should be withdrawn as they are Indian citizens.
Nanada Kirati Dewan, secretary of the Assam branch of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), said the decision would give relief to at least 22,000 Gorkha families of Assam. "Assam Pradesh Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh had made several assertions before the Government of Assam, Election Commission of India and Joint Secretary (Home - NE) Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India highlighting the plight of the Gorkhas in Assam. We are thankful to the Assam government and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the decision," Dewan said.
Last month, the BJP-led government changed the nomenclature of the Nepali graziers and cultivators mentioned in the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886 living in Bodoland Territorial Region in western Assam and Sadiya belt in eastern Assam as Gorkha community. This was also a long pending demand of the Gorkhas in Assam.