A community stuck with a fatherly problem

FORGING FATHERS’ NAMES WAS THE ONLY WAY THEY COULD GET EDUCATION. AND NOW THEY CAN’T GET JOBS

KOLKATA: Two years ago, Sapikul Ali Miyan was ecstatic.

The 21-year-old had just become an Indian citizen, one of 15,000-odd Bangladeshi immigrants living in enclaves in West Bengal whom India decided to formally accept as part of a landmark agreement.

Miyan and others looked forward to identity cards that would open doors to ‘formal education, jobs and a better life, free from the constant fear of deportation and persecution. Many in the enclave described the day as a second independence day.

But now, the same identity cards have come back to haunt them. Miyan, now 23, wants to join the army but is stuck – the name of his father on his Aadhaar and voter identity cards doesn’t match that on his schoolleaving records.

The reason: Miyan is one of 1000-odd people who used names of their neighbour or family friend in place of their father on school records because they weren’t eligible to study in Indian schools.

Miyan, son of Asgar Ali Miyan of Poaturkuthi village, used the name of a family friend — Lutfar Mallick of Patharda village — in his school records because the latter was an Indian citizen.

He said he did it because the Bamanhat High School in Dinhata wouldn’t admit a child from the enclaves, which were embedded in India geographically but didn’t belong to any country.

“There are many in our locality willing to join the Army. However, there is no way one can even apply since we are all stuck with school leaving certificates carrying wrong father’s name and address,” says Miyan, 23.

Most of the 1,000-odd young men and women are in their 20s and 30s but forced to work as part-time labour, masons and agricultural labour.

They say the government should have created some provision because forging fathers’ names was the only way they could access education.

“Everybody born in the enclaves had to use fake fathers and addresses to get enrolled in schools. However, about 1,000 youths who are in the job market now face this problem,” said Diptiman Sengupta, convener of the Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee.