Chakmas, Hajongs in Delhi protest 'racial profiling' by Arunachal Pradesh govt through special census

Tribal groups in Arunachal Pradesh have been agitating for years against the settlement of Chakmas and Hajongs

Several members belonging to Chakma and Hajong community living in Arunachal Pradesh staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday opposing alleged racial profiling through a "special census" being planned by the state government.

The protesters said that the "special census" is part of the Arunachal Pradesh government's plan to relocate over 65,000 Chakmas and Hajongs out of the state.

Chakmas or Hajongs were settled between 1964 and 1969 in Bordumsa-Diyun and Kokila area 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 have been agitating for years against their settlement. The issue has triggered tensions in Arunachal Pradesh several times.

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 National Human Rights Commission had asked the state government in 1966 to offer Indian citizenship to the Chakmas and Hajongs. The Supreme Court had in 2015 asked the state government to offer Indian citizenship to them.

The protestors submitted a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah stating that the "special census" is nothing but racial profiling and a violation of NHRC directives. "Chakmas and Hajongs shall not participate in any such illegal census,” said Rup Singh Chakma, president of the Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students' Union (APCSU).

The protesters were led by APCSU, Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCHAP), Arunachal Pradesh Chakma and Hajong Students Association and Chakma Development Foundation of India.

"The Chakmas and Hajongs who had migrated during 1964-1969 are citizens of India as per the Indira-Mujib accord of 1972 and Section 5(1) of the Citizenship Act of 1955. Those who are born in India are citizens by birth too.

"Arunachal Pradesh government, instead of implementing the NHRC Vs State of Arunachal Pradesh case order of 1966 to confer citizenship and enrolling the Chakmas and Hajongs into electoral rolls has started racial profiling of the Chakmas and Hajongs to keep the pot boiling," said Santosh Chakma, general secretary of the CCRCHAP.

Check out latest DH videos here