ITANAGAR, April 11 — All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) has cautioned the central and state governments of ‘serious consequences” if the inclusion of Chakmas and Hajongs in the state’s electoral rolls was not stopped immediately, reports PTI.
Quoting EC notification of March 31 asking Arunachal Pradesh government to enroll Chakmas and Hajongs in the voters list, AAPSU president Dominic Tadar told reporters here that the union along with other student bodies in the state would soon announce an agitational programme to “defeat the Centre and Election Commission’s design to include names of refugees in the voter list who were temporarily settled in erstwhile NEFA”.
Tadar wondered how Chakmas and Hajongs, who had come from erstwhile East Pakistan and settled in 1964, could become part of Arunachal society when the state was totally a tribal state and a protected area where even Indian citizens were not allowed to enter without Inner Line Permit.
“We do not oppose their constitutional rights to be citizens of India, the people of Arunachal Pradesh cannot allow Chakmas and Hajongs to create a demographical imbalance which would have far reaching socio-economic and political ramifications,” he said.
AAPSU and other student organisations on Thursday organised protest march in Itanagar protesting the EC order.