The representatives of Nasya Sheikh Unnayan Parishad, an association of Nasya Sheikh (Rajbanshi Muslims) persons, have decided to conduct an awareness camp across the district to educate the people, especially of their community on the proposed special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Election Commission of India is supposed to undertake an SIR of Bengal before the 2026 Assembly polls.
The Nasya Sheikh association organised an awareness camp and meeting at a school ground of Khatamari Bazar of Chowdhuryhat area in Dinhata block-II, located about 60km from Cooch Behar town, on Saturday.
Speakers at the meeting said that many citizens did not have complete information of the 11 documents that are specified by the EC for the exercise, especially in the backward Muslim community.
They also stated that there was massive confusion among people due to frequent mismatches in spellings of names or surnames in various government documents. For instance, a person’s surname could be spelt one way in the voter ID card and another in Aadhaar.
“In this context, this initiative has been taken to make the common people aware and provide guidance ahead of the SIR,” said Aminal Haque, the vice chairman of the Nasya Sheikh Development Board, who was present as the main speaker at the meeting.
He stressed that people should not panic, but instead focus on being informed and get all their documents in order.
“There is no need to panic in the current situation. Everyone should calmly verify and correct their documents,” said Haque, adding that this was why they were holding awareness meetings.
The community leaders, however, also alleged that the SIR exercise was actually a roundabout attempt to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bengal.
“We are opposing this policy and are appealing to the government to give priority to the fundamental rights and security of the people,”
Haque said.
The community leaders plan to organise such informative meetings in every block of north Bengal where Nasya Sheikh people have a presence.
“We will organise a comprehensive awareness campaign on this issue through various meetings and discussion camps in every block of north Bengal,” said Haque.
Ahsanul Alam Sarkar, the district secretary of the Nasya Sheikh Unnayan Parishad and also one of the members of the Nasya Sheikh Development Board, said: “We want every citizen to be aware of accurate information about the SIR and have all documents in hand. No one should miss the opportunity to make corrections in their documents wherever needed. Awareness and information are our protection now.”
Prominent faces of the community apart, the meeting saw a large attendance of common people from Dinhata and Chowdhuryhat areas.