Staff REPORTER
ITANAGAR, Apr 23: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju’s recent statement that the Chakmas and Hajongs residing in Arunachal Pradesh will be relocated to neighbouring Assam did not go down well with various groups both in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh strongly criticizing the same.
Reacting to Rijiju’s statement, the Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) has said, “The statement of Kiren Rijiju is nothing but to get a few votes by bashing the Chakmas and Hajongs and disrupting the peaceful situation.”
On the “so-called” relocation of the Chakmas and Hajongs, CDFI founder Suhas Chakma claimed, “Home Minister Amit Shah never made a statement while the Prime Minister’s Office had specifically directed Arunachal Pradesh (on earlier occasion) to stop the census of only the Chakmas and Hajongs because it amounts to racial profiling.”
The CDFI leader further claimed that about 95% of the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh are citizens of the country and “no government has the authority or power to relocate a citizen from one place to another place against their will or separate the families simply because the State has not processed the citizenship applications”.
“If anyone tries to forcibly relocate the Chakmas and Hajongs, they shall face contempt proceedings for violations of the 1996 Supreme Court judgment in the case of NHRC Vs State of Arunachal Pradesh,” Chakma said.
On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has clarified that he has had no talks with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju or the Central Government over the issue of relocation of Chakma-Hajongs from Arunachal to Assam.
Sarma while talking to reporters in Nagaon said, “I don’t know what Kiren Rijiju had talked about...I will talk to him after the election”. The CM also stated that not a single Chakma-Hajong has met him till date.
Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYP) president Palash Changmai has also strongly opposed Rijiju’s statement and called for implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Assam.
The Union Minister had in a recent press conference at Itanagar stated that since the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) does not apply to Arunachal Pradesh, talks are underway with Assam Chief Minister to relocate the Chakma-Hajongs elsewhere. He also stated that in this regard, he has requested the Assam CM to assist Arunachal find suitable sites for their relocation.
Further stating that “Citizenship Amendment Act is a great boon for Arunachal Pradesh”, Rijiju said: “After coming of CAA, now getting citizenship for any foreigner, refugee in Arunachal Pradesh has been closed forever. Nobody will get citizenship status here.”
It’s clearly written in CAA rules that any refugee coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can obtain the country’s citizenship, but it cannot be possible in Arunachal Pradesh, he said, adding that “CAA has become a blessing for Arunachal”.
Had it been materialized earlier, Chakma-Hajong refugees would not have come to Arunachal during the period from 1964 to 1970. At that time, we did not have any protective law. Because of this, whoever came to Arunachal at that time may obtain Indian citizenship but they cannot get permanent residential certificate or citizenship in Arunachal Pradesh, the Union Minister reiterated.
“I have told the Chakma-Hajongs with folded hands that since CAA law has come, you will have to leave Arunachal one day,” Rijiju said, adding that the Centre will help them to settle down anywhere in the country.
“Arunachal may be your temporary home and you can stay here as our guests but you will never be allowed to become a permanent resident and citizen of Arunachal,” he emphatically said.
It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Pema Khandu had in 2023 stated that after resolving the Assam-Arunachal boundary dispute, he will resolve the Chakma-Hajong problem by distributing them in different States of India, as the Chakmas and Hajongs being refugees cannot be permanently settled in Arunachal, which is protected as a tribal state under the Constitution.
However, Khandu’s statement was strongly opposed by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Chakma-Hajong CBOs, the apex umbrella body representing the collective voice of the Chakma and Hajong people. It had stated that the Chakmas and Hajongs were already relocated to NEFA (North East Frontier Agency, now Arunachal Pradesh) 57 years ago and that they “would prefer to live and die in Arunachal Pradesh”.
“While the government’s intent to permanently resolve the long-pending Chakma-Hajong issue is laudable”, the JAC had said that it is against any relocation or false and misleading premise that the Chakma and Hajong were given “temporary shelter” as refugees in Arunachal Pradesh.
“No doubt the Chakmas and Hajongs came as refugees in 1960’s, but once they were accepted and permanently settled with land, government jobs, trade licenses, ration cards, etc, and established their hearth and homes in NEFA, they were already recognized as de-facto citizens of India,” the JAC claimed.
The Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh are migrants from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Displaced by the Kaptai dam on the Karnaphuli river in 1960's, they were settled mostly in southern Arunachal Pradesh during 1964-69.
The state’s apex students’ body, All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) which has been spearheading a mass movement against the Chakmas and Hajongs for decades, demanded the Chakma-Hajong settlers be shifted out of tribal-dominated Arunachal, fearing that the ‘refugees’ could outnumber the indigenous populace and influence the electoral outcomes.