ITANAGAR, May 23: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee has extended support to All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) in the democratic movement against the Centre’s move to grant citizenship rights to Chakma-Hajong refugees in the state.
Lauding the role of AAPSU in spearheading the movement, the APCC termed the contentious issue of granting citizenship as a social challenge for the entire state.
The party cautioned that allowing the refugees to have Arunachalee status would lead to a demographic change and breed socio-economic and political threat in near future.
“We should not undermine the wide-ranging lobbying strategies and mechanism of these refugees. Every member of all indigenous tribes of the state must take up the issue at this stage,” the party said in a statement.
Castigating union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju for his ineffective role, the APCC asked him to resign voluntarily.
“The BJP-led state government should also own moral responsibilities as the outcome of proposed granting of citizenship to the refugees is unilateral and dictatorial decision of the BJP’s central leadership. It is a wakeup call for the people of the state to understand the hidden agenda of the saffron brigade lest it will be too late,” the party said.
The APCC asked the state BJP government to clarify its stand on the vexed issue and demanded holding an all-party meeting immediately to discuss the pros and con of the issue.
The APCC also slammed the government for its “complete failure” in providing security to the people. It cited as example Monday’s incident where miscreants armed with AK-56 assault rifle attacked a government officer at his office in Naharlagun.
“Lawlessness has become the order of the day. Leaving apart regular occurrence of stray incidents, extortion, loot and criminal intimidation are being allowed to take place owing to weakness of BJP government in regulating the machineries to function responsibly,” the party said.
“A former minister was recently served an extortion notice of Rs 10 lakh by some underground outfit, but neither the government nor the law enforcing authority has a say in the matter till date. Seeing the failure of the government in protecting the life and property of the people, we demand voluntary resignation of Chief Minister Pema Khandu,” the party added.