Chakmas, Hajongs protest in New Delhi against Arunachal Pradesh govt's cancellation of RPCs

Several organisations representing the Chakma and Hajong communities staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday seeking the Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intervention into Arunachal Pradesh government's recent directive for cancellation of Residential Proof Certificates (RPCs) earlier issued to the community.

The protesters said that cancellation of the RPCs would deprive the Chakma and Hajong residents from applying for government jobs including those under the Centre's Agniveer Scheme. In a notification recently, the Arunachal Pradesh government instructed the deputy commissioners to issue Temporary Settlement Certificates (TSC).

In a memorandum submitted to Shah, the protesters stated that Assam Rifles on November 23 announced that TSCs are not acceptable for recruitment in the security forces and thus a large number of Chakma and Hajong youths would be deprived from jobs.

"These Chakmas and Hajongs have been born and brought up in Arunachal Pradesh. A citizen living in his/her birth place being issued Temporary Settlement Certificates (TSC) is unheard of under India laws and administrative practices," said Rup Singh Chakma, President of Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students Union.

“There are about 30,000 Chakma and Hajong Indian citizens who are born and brought up in Arunachal Pradesh in the age groups eligible for education and employment," said Santosh Baburah Chakma, youth leader and President of the Chakma Welfare and Cultural Society of Noida.

Chakma and Hajong population in Arunachal Pradesh now stands at around 65,000. They were settled between 1964 and 1969 in Changlang and Papum Pare district following an ethnic clash and a dam disaster in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan (present Bangladesh). But tribal groups in Arunachal Pradesh including All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) have been agitating for years against their settlement.

Fresh worries gripped the Chakma and Hajong community after Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on August 15 last year said that they would be relocated outside Arunachal Pradesh. This is despite the fact that the National Human Rights Commission's order in 1966 to the government to offer Indian citizenship to the Chakma and Hajongs. The Supreme Court had in 2015 also asked the state government to offer Indian citizenship to them.

Suhas Chakma, Founder of the Chakma Development Foundation of India stated, “There is no rule of law in Arunachal Pradesh. The AAPSU is acting as the supreme authority over the state government."