Now Arunachal Pradesh burns: Locals rise in protest against citizenship rights to Chakma, Hajong refugees
GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh erupted in protests on Tuesday following New Delhi’s decision to grant citizenship to Chakma and Hajong refugees settled in the state.
The move is being seen locally as something that would alter the demography of Arunachal Pradesh and lead to a loss of opportunities for local people.
Volunteers of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU), the group which called a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk shutdown on Tuesday, damaged a number of vehicles and enforced a total shutdown in the state capital Itanagar and in other districts of the state.
Almost all tribal organisations and NGOs in the state backed the state-wide bandh.
In Itanagar, bandh supporters damaged vehicles including a state transport bus and a private vehicle in the morning, superintendent of police Sagar Singh Kalsi said.
Reports of violence poured in from Namsai, Changlang and several other districts. All government offices, educational institutions, markets and commercial establishments remained closed while public and private transport remained off the roads.
The AAPSU said local people would not accept any decision by the central government that would alter the state's demography. “We are ready to fight for the rights of indigenous peoples. How can New Delhi take a decision on a serious issue without taking the people of Arunachal into confidence?" said AAPSU general secretary Tobom Dai.
The Chakmas and Hajongs migrated to India from Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, in the 1960s fleeing religious persecution.
Last week, the centre government decided to grant limited citizenship to the two tribes while not giving them land rights or Scheduled Tribe status.
Arunachal chief minister Pema Khandu has expressed his reservations in a letter to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, stating that the issue would stir deeply held tribal emotions. While stating his opposition to any infringement of the constitutional safeguards given to tribals, he pointed out that Arunachal is governed by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, which prohibits the citizens of India from entering the state without an inner line permit.
The Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists and the Hajongs are largely Hindu. They were among the earliest persecuted groups to flee the then East Pakistan. Their migration to Arunachal took place during 1964-69. In Arunachal, they are settled in the Bordumsa-Diyun areas of Changlang district and Kokila area of Papum Pare district. They also have sizeable populations in Tripura and Mizoram.
Their population is believed to be around one lakh but Chakma organisations claim that it is 55,000., They insist that the threat perception that they would outnumber the local tribes such as Tangsa, Khampti, Nocte, Singpho and Mishmi, is without any basis.