How social media helped residents of enclaves get citizenship rights

When the residents of enclaves in India celebrate the end of their life in limbo and start afresh as bona fide citizens, they will spare a silent prayer for Mark Zuckerberg.

For people like Jainal Abedin, Saddam Hossain, Jehad Hussein Osama, Taher Ali and Mansoor, social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are what changed the way their movement for recognition has been perceived for many years.

Not much unlike those who fought against tyranny at Cairo’s Tahrir Square or Shahbag in Dhaka, the young residents of enclaves on  the Indo-Bangladesh border took to Facebook and other social media platforms to  bring to the world’s notice their strange predicament.

Jainal, 22, one of the few owners of a smartphone at his enclave of Mashaldanga, around 40 km from Cooch Behar town in northern West Bengal,  he uses Facebook to talk about the plight of those living in Bangladeshi enclaves in India. Jainal is among the ‘facebook fighters’ of enclaves who brought a change to the decades-long movement.

Bharat Bangladesh Enclaves Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC) has spearheaded the movement for two decades, demanding citizenship rights for enclave residents. The organisation has put in a lot of hard work that culminates in the formal exchange between two neighbouring nations on July 31 midnight. While BBEECC played a crucial role in the process, its functionaries never undermine the efforts of those like Jainal, Saddam and Jehad.

BBEECC chief coordinator Diptiman Sengupta admitted that a number of young residents from enclaves played a significant role in spreading the word despite limitations. Both Jainal and Saddam agreed that the path has not been easy. “There is no power in any enclave. Even though we acquired smartphones, it was difficult because we had to travel a few kilometres just to get our phones charged,” Jainal said. Saddam said that they usually go to nearby Indian villages where shopkeepers charge them Rs 2 every time they charge their phones.

The scene is similar at Bhatrigachhi, Poaturkuthi and other such enclaves. At Bhatrigachhi, youths like Roshan Sarkar travel five kilometres to the nearest Indian village to get phones charged for Rs 5. “Whenever we get our phones charged, we’ve to pay the shopkeeper whose power connection we’re using,” Roshan said.

In keeping with their ‘social networking’ movement, these boys will flaunt T-shirts printed with the ‘double f’ logo on their chests, where one “f” stands for Facebook and the other for “fighter”.