Kolkata: A man whose family has been making the National Flag since Independence in 1947 has been stripped of his voting rights.Raju Halder, a third-generation Tricolour maker and one of the biggest suppliers of national flags in eastern India, discovered his name was dropped from the voter list when the supplementary list was published. He has since filed an appeal at the tribunal through a lawyer.Halder’s home in south Howrah neighbourhood Unsani is testament to his passion for the Indian flag. Painted in saffron, white and green, it is a vivid tribute to the Tricolour that three generations of Halders have been making for nearly eight decades.Halder, who is a voter of South Howrah Assembly constituency, has an international passport and land deed records in his name dating back to 1982. Even his name was featured on the 2002 list. “We are 10 brothers and sisters. Out of them, only my name has been deleted. My mother’s name is also there in the electoral rolls. I even voted in 2002. I was called for a hearing because it was told that my father’s name, Nurezzaman Halder, did not match with mine. During the hearing, I submitted all relevant documents, including my international passport and land records, which had my father’s name, but still they deleted my name,” Halder said, adding that one of his cousin brothers, sister-in-law and an employee, who also makes the Tricolour flag, have been deleted from the electoral roll.The 46-year-old said that his family has been living in south Howrah since the British period. “I have been living here all my life. I was born here. I work here. My grandfather started this business of stitching National Flags and supplying it. After my father, I am carrying it forward. We supply National flags to mostly Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and occasionally to Delhi. If my name is excluded all of a sudden, what will happen to my children?” he questioned.The National flag-maker shares that it was his long-cherished dream to colour his three-storey house in saffron, white and green as a testament to his love for the country and the Tricolour flag. “Even one of the rooms in my home is painted in Tricolour,” he added.Halder feels that the Election Commission is randomly deleting names without checking proper documents. “In their haste, they are excluding names without properly checking the documents. How is it possible to check the documents of millions of people properly? They are just excluding people randomly. Irrespective of religion, both Hindus and Muslims are being targeted. I feel it is an attack on Bengalis and Bengal,” Halder said, adding, “It is a lot of harassment and mental stress for so many common people.“
