"Indelible Indian" Ali to preserve his voting mark in plaster

Chaygaon, Apr 3 (UNI) Ismail Ali considers himself "indelibly Indian" and plans to prove it by preserving the indelible ink mark on his index finger swathed in plaster after voting in the Asom assembly elections today.

Ismail, orignally from Bangladesh, was carrying an inch-long strip of plaster, tucked inside his lungi, as he came to cast his vote in the Char area of Chaygaon.

The plaster is for him and the families of his four brothers. For everyone of this extended family of 44, that plaster is an insurance for the next six months at least.

"Immediately after I vote, I will plaster the index finger to protect the indelible ink because that is my identity. That is my recognition of being an Indian citizen. I will keep the finger away from water and I will protect it by any means," he said.

Ismail is originally from Rongpur, now in Bangladesh. His father Rahmat Ali crossed over to India in the 1960s with young Ismail and four of his brothers. The whole family is basically into farming and now Ismail and his son are making occasional trips to Guwahati to work as construction labourers.

Every year more than half a dozen times, the police catch them, suspecting them to be illegal Bangladeshis. Each time, one of them has to go back home, produce the ration card and pay a small bribe to get the others released.

"This is quite troublesome. With IMDT gone, I do not want to take any chance. I want to live in peace and this sign of indelible mark in my index finger is the key to that peace. As long as it is there, I am safe and it is my duty to protect it," he said.

There are tens of thousands like him in lower Asom.

In Guwahati city alone, not less than 30,000 such people of Bangladeshi origin have gone back to villages to vote, more importantly, to get the mark on the finger.

"Candidate and symbol are not important but what matter most is the mark. Without that we will once again be caught by police. Once again we have to fork out some money," he said.

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