Silchar, July 16: Silchar BJP legislator Dilip Paul got a nasty shock three days ago when a foreigner tribunal's notice arrived on his doorstep asking his brother and his wife to prove their citizenship. He hasn't stopped fuming since.

"It is really shocking that my younger brother has been asked to prove himself a bona fide citizen of the country," Paul, a first-time MLA, told reporters in Guwahati today.

Dubbing it a "conspiracy" by the ruling Congress government, he said a notice was served on his younger brother Pradip Paul on July 13 by the foreigners tribunal of Cachar district, asking him to appear before it on July 30 to prove his citizenship. A similar notice was also served on Pradip's wife, Mitali, the same day.

The notices were served under rule 3 (1) of the Foreigners Tribunal Order 1964 in reference to the cases filed by the Cachar superintendent of police in 2011 suspecting that both of them are foreigners.

The Silchar MLA told The Telegraph that his father Sachindra Kumar Paul and mother Ujjala had permanently settled here in 1950. "My father started a business here in 1956 and was associated with politics as well. All my brothers and sisters, including me, were born in Silchar."

Pradip told this correspondent that he was born in Nari Siksha Hospital here in 1963. He completed his schooling from Adhar Chand Higher Secondary School and then studied in Cachar College. Mitali, too, was born in Assam and her father Pravat Chandra Roy has been living here at Padma Nagar for several decades.

Pradip said the case was filed in 2011, but the notice was issued in 2015. He wanted to know why the notice was served on him after four years.

"It is nothing but a conspiracy by the ruling Congress government. Serving the foreigner notice on the younger brother of an MLA is same as serving the notice on the MLA himself. We have been living in Assam for the past many decades and it is so unfortunate that my brother is suspected as a foreigner," Paul said.

He alleged that it was done "intentionally" by the Congress government to create fear psychosis among the people that if the foreigner notice was served on the brother of an MLA, it could be issued against anyone.

"Hundreds of Bengali-speaking people of Assam are now being harassed in the name of foreigners. Linguistic minorities of the state today are frightened as the notices are being served on them indiscriminately."

Paul however, said he would fight it both legally and politically. "I will not leave the matter here. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that the guilty involved in it is punished."

Asked about whether he is implying that the foreigners tribunals can be manipulated by the political class, Paul said the tribunal had nothing to do. He held police, a few employees of the state election office and a handful number of people from the ruling party responsible for branding "legitimate" citizens foreigners. "The foreigners tribunals just pronounce the judgment according to law."

However, the superintendent of police, Cachar, Diganta Borah, said: "The police just forwarded the copy received from the election office to the tribunal."

Assam PCC spokesperson Deepan Dewanji today condemned the BJP MLA's statement throwing a challenge to him to prove the role of the Congress in sending the notice to his brother. "Dilip Paul is trying to politicise the issue. The notice was served by the tribunal. How can the Congress have any role in it? It is totally baseless," he added.