This is what the government is ignoring
Indian national weighs what would be lost in making formal pledge
Published in the Asbury Park Press 03/15/05
By RICHARD QUINN
STAFF WRITER
Rumu DasGupta is not a U.S. citizen, but she is an American in her mind.
DasGupta grew up in Shillong, a poor town in the eastern arm of India. Her parents were Hindu, but she was educated in a Catholic school before she was sent to public school in New Delhi, the country's capital.
"I'm not a citizen, but in many ways I grew up in this place," DasGupta, who now lives in Freehold Township, says in one of the classrooms at Georgian Court University, where she chairs the sociology department. "When I came to this place, I was 20 years old."
DasGupta, now 54, represents many an immigrant who came to the United States for a reason — hers was following her husband to his job at Louisiana State University — but hadn't planned to stay. Thirty-three years — and three U.S.-born children later — she still has not decided whether to formally pledge her allegiance to this country.
In fact, of the 34 million foreign-born people who now live in the United States, 70 percent are not naturalized as citizens, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank.
DasGupta's family represents both sides of the issue.
Her husband, Anupam, became a citizen in 1984, yet she has been a legal permanent resident since 1978. Anupam, 58, wants his wife to be a citizen with him and their children.
"We've been here such a long time," he says. "Nowadays being a permanent resident, there are certain things you do not have. You do not get the benefits of the law."
But climbing the next rung of the citizenship ladder is a harder decision than one might think.
To be a citizen of the United States, one must first renounce citizenship to another country. A person can later apply for dual citizenship.
DasGupta has trouble giving up, even temporarily, what her father fought to earn.
India declared its freedom from Britain in 1947, and DasGupta's father — a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi — was a journalist who fought hard to help make that happen. He died in 1960 when a bus he was riding in — the driver was drunk — ran off the road and fell into a ravine.
"He almost gave his life for that country," DasGupta says of her father. "I can't give it up so flippantly."
To abandon her heritage and become a citizen of the United States is a difficult proposition — especially for a political activist who protests what she believes is government abuse.
DasGupta listened as immigration experts spoke of how difficult it can be to become a citizen and import family members. DasGupta's mother still lives in Shillong, and the wait for her to become a citizen — if DasGupta were to naturalize — could still be 20 years.
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This is only an example of what people feel about their Indian heritage.Sadly the government does not look interested in nurturing this.
Will the government please wake up and act ?????
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