Kamatapur Leave a Reply View Full Site Proudly powered by Word Press September 23, 2014 Leave a reply Nirmal Ray: The person who wrote to Prime Minister Modi after his passport was denied for being a Koch Rajbanshi Puja Konch, Mumbai: A shocking incident came to light when one Nirmal Ray, son of Harish Chandra Ray revealed in front of the media that he was denied passport because of his ethnicity of being a Koch-Rajbanshi. Nirmal Ray who belongs to a poor Koch-Rajbanshi family managed to get a diploma in computer hardware from Delhi. He was supported by his friend. After completion of his diploma he got a job opportunity to work in a computer sales service in Kuwait. For availing this job he has to furnish a passport in 6 months time. So, he instantly applied for a passport at the Regional Passport Office, Guwahati on 26 February, 2014. To his bitter experience Nirmal Ray didn’t receive his passport on time even after making several rounds of visits to the concerned authorities and department gradually he had to give up his dream of going to Kuwait due to the negligence of the bureaucracy. Instead of a passport what he received from the Regional Passport Office was Humiliation. When Nirmal Ray had gone to the passport office to enquire about his passport, Anjali Das Thakuria who is a personal secretary to the Regional Passport Officer humiliated and insulted him by saying to her colleague that, “Do you know who is he? He is a Koch-Rajbanshi. If these people gets passport than they will go to America and do Kamatapur Movement there”. And ordered the security guard to throw him out of the passport office. Helpless Nirmal approaching to another authority outside the office, the authority responded to him by saying that, “Since people of Assam has voted for Modi, ask Modi to give you your passport”. Humiliated and frustrated Nirmal Ray was so traumatized by this incident that he even thought of and taking up arms. But still clinging on to some hope, he wrote a simple two line letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in broken Hindi and English. The letter read, “The Regional Passport Office, Guwahati has asked me to get a passport from you”. Modi receiving this letter and took instant action. On 20 September, 2014 CBI raided the Regional Passport Office in Guwahati and detained Anjali Das Thakuria for corrupt practices. Following the incident the mainstream media had given so much hype to Modi that it has completely sidelined the issues of discrimination which various ethnic groups like the Koch-Rajbanshis face in their day-to-day lives in the Assamese hegemonized public sector due to their non-Assamese ethnic affiliation. Presently, Nirmal Ray continuous to live with his sister and brother-in-law in Rajabari, Guwahati and works in a computer hardware repairing shop. (Pooja Konch-The writer is a Mumbai based research scholar and associated with Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 06:43:31 +0000
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