10, Mar 2020

Guwahati: 7o year old Sejebla Devi, daughter of Chandrasekhar Azad’s comrade, is now a suspected foreigner! Her father , late Digendra Ghosh, received many letters from Azad during India’s independence movemet. Her mother,  Baradabala Devi, sold her property and donated a huge sum to the Indian Defence Fund during the Indo-China War of 1962.  Despite the immense sacrifice of the parents, their daughter Sejebala is now a ‘suspected foriegner’ in the eyes of the state. She has been served foreigners’ notice by the Foreigners’ Tribunal of Bongaigaon, and has been summoned to appear  before the Tribunal on 21^st March to fight for her citizenship.  A teary-eyed Sejebala siad, “ At least my parents aren’t alive to see this. They would have died in shame”.

Sejebala is still greiving the death of her son from a few days ago. But she is forced to take up work as a maid to survive. The helpless Sejebala has realised that patriotism has taken an ugly form today, far removed from its meaning during her father’s time.

Meanwhile, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP)  has stepped in to support Sejebla Devi in all possible ways. CJP mentor Zamser Ali and volunteer Parijat Ghosh have taken responsibilty for her legal recourse. Visiting Sejebla at her home and assesing her situation they said, “Pushing people into Hitler-like detention camps begins with the first step of serving ‘foreigners’ notice’ to unsuspecting citizens. Sejebla has been served such a notice to prove whether she is Indian. Although her name has been included in the final Assam NRC, she has been labelled ‘suspected foreigner!”  “In a country where the name on your Aadhar card can be ‘Kolkata Knight riders’ and your voter card image can be replaced with one of a cow, I guess one has to accept this unjust arrangement as well”, said an enraged Parijat Ghosh.