Arunachal Pradesh witnessed widespread incidents of resistance and protests over granting citizenship to Chakma-Hajong refugees even as the Centre took a complete U-turn on Tuesday over the matter.
Life in the frontier state came to a standstill as a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the All Arunachal-Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Tuesday witnessed incidents of violence. Protesters damaged private vehicles and set ablaze a state transport bus in capital Itanagar. Violence was also reported from Namsai, Changlang and several other districts.
All government offices and educational institutions remained closed along with markets and other commercial establishments. Public and private transport were largely off the road as protesters indulged in stone-pelting.
AAPSU had called the bandh to protest against the Union home ministry’s recent decision to honour the 2015 decision of the Supreme Court to grant citizenship to the Chakma and Hajong refugees settled in the state after their displacement from the present day Bangladesh in the 1960s.
However, on Tuesday, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said that the central government will soon approach the Supreme Court to seek a "modification" of its order to grant citizenship to Chakma-Hajong refugees living in the state as it is not possible to implement it due to ground difficulties. Rijiju said the settlement of refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan in the 1960s was a violation of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, currently known as Inner Line Permit, as an outsider has to take special permission before visiting Arunachal Pradesh.
Rijiju also appealed to the people to remain calm.
Meanwhile, AAPSU had the backing of almost all the local organisations and the NGOs who heeded the 12-hour strike against the government decision to grant citizenship to the Chakmas and Hajongs. AAPSU general secretary Tobom Dai, while thanking the people for the cooperation in making the bandh a success said, “ The support for our agitation proves that the indigenous people of the state will not tolerate the Centre’s arbitrary decision to grant citizenship to the Chakmas and Hajongs at the cost of the indigenous tribals of the state.”
The Chakmas and Hajongs fit into the BJP’s scheme of things to grant citizenship to non-Muslim minorities fleeing persecution in neighbouring countries. The provision was made in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2016.
Although the predominantly Buddhist Chakmas and Hindu Hajongs are said to be among the earliest persecuted groups and have lived in the northeastern state for more than 50 years, yet the Arunachalis are livid with the Centre’s decision.
Former AAPSU president and the union’s legal adviser Nabam Jollow questioned the decision and demanded that the burden of the Chakma-Hajong refugees should not be borne by Arunachal alone and that they should be settled in other parts of the country as well.
Sensing the mood of the people, state chief minister Prema Khandu, who belongs to the BJP, on Monday dashed off a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh in which he stated the anxiety of the people following the Centre's decision. Khandu stated that the matter was of deep emotional concern and his state was not ready to accept any infringement of the constitutional protection given to the tribals of Arunachal Pradesh who wanted to ensure that the ethnic composition is not disturbed.
Arunachal Pradesh had witnessed several agitations demanding the deportation of the Chakma-Hajong refugees in the past, too. On their part, the refugees said they face persecution on a daily basis but sadly 'have nowhere to go'.
Chakmas and Hajongs were originally residents of Chittagong Hills in then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, who left their homeland in the 1960s. Their population which was 14,888 has now risen to over 64,000 much to the consternation of the local people.
