Guwahati: The BJP-led Assam government on Friday decided to withdraw all cases against members of the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners Tribunals because the current dispensation “believes they are an indigenous community”.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the “important” decision of officially removing the foreigners tag attached to the members of the Koch Rajbongshi community fighting cases in the FTs soon after a cabinet meeting chaired by him in Dispur on Friday.

Foreigners Tribunals are quasi judicial bodies that determine the citizenship of suspected foreigners illegally staying the state. There are 100 FTs in Assam dealing with over 97,000 cases.

According to the 1985 Assam accord, the cut-off date for detection and deportation of a foreigner illegally staying in Assam is March 24.

Sarma said: “There are a lot of pending cases in the Foreigners Tribunals.. 28,000 Koch Rajbonshis are also fighting these cases. The government believes they are an indigenous community of Assam. They are an inalienable part of Assam’s culture. That is why the state government today (Friday) decided to immediately withdraw all cases against them from the FTs.”

He added: “They have suffered for long because of these cases. They are very poor. We have taken this historic decision to officially withdraw all FT cases against them. From now, they will also no longer carry the ‘D’ or doubtful voter tag.”

Though the demand to withdraw the cases was long pending, the cabinet decision comes two days after the announcement of the two-phase panchayat polls to be held on May 2 and May 7.

The move is expected to help the ruling coalition as the Koch Rajbongshi community plays a key role in at least 25 of the state’s 126 Assembly seats.

There are about 25 lakh Koch Rajbongshis in the state spread across Lower Assam, Golaghat, Kaliabor, Barhampur, Morigaon, Jonai and Lakhimpur.

Soon after assuming charge as the chief minister in 2021, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government had similarly withdrawn all cases registered against Gorkha community members in the Foreigners Tribunals, a move which benefitted about 22,000 of the 25 lakh-strong Gorkha population Assam.

Koch Rajbongshi leaders Durlov Chamua and Biswajit Ray welcomed the government’s decision because it was a long-pending demand of the community, which is one of the six communities in the state demanding ST status.

Ray, the general secretary of the Koch Rajbongshi Jatiya Parishad, thanked the chief minister for the cabinet decision.

“We have been demanding withdrawal of the cases because we are the sons of the soil. The cases were mostly lodged during the erstwhile Congress and AGP governments through the border police. We would appeal to the government to closely verify the surnames of the people to benefit from the move because similar surnames are used by people of different communities in the state,” Ray said.