SC order on citizenship to Chakmas and Hajongs not implementable: Kiren Rijiju

Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu has also opposed the idea of granting citizenship to Chakma and Hajong refugees who migrated to India from the erstwhile East Pakistan about five decades back. The CM apprehends that citizenship status to the refugees shall alter the demography of the state.

“As mentioned by me in our meeting recently, I reiterate that the people of my state are not ready to accept any infringement on the constitutional protection bestowed on the tribals of Arunachal Pradesh and want to ensure that the ethnic composition and the special rights enjoyed by the tribes of my state are safeguarded at all cost,” Khandu had said in a letter to Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh.

The Arunachal student unions have also expressed dissatisfaction over the decision to grant citizenship to the refugees. “The Centre’s reported decision to grant citizenship to the Chakma and Hajong refugees in our state is very unfortunate. It amounts to treating the indigenous people of a strategic frontier state as second class citizens of the country,” All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) general secretary Tobom Dai had said.

Chakmas and Hajongs were originally inhabitants of Chittagong Hill Tracts, which at present is in Bangladesh, who migrated to India through the Lushai Hill district of Assam, an area that is presently in Mizoram.

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