ITANAGAR, Aug 3: The All Aka (Hrusso) Students’ Union (AARSU) has issued a clarification, stating that the Mon Autonomous Region Demand Committee (MARDC) submitted its memorandum demanding a Mon autonomous region (MAR) to the chief minister without seeking the consensus of “the whole tribe of Aka (Hrusso).”
“The creation of MAR without proper concurrence among the whole regional area is a gross violation of the set of protocol in maintaining unity in diversity,” the union stated in a release on Monday, adding that the MARDC’s drafting committee did not seek participation of either the AARSU or Aka intellectuals while preparing the draft.
“Autonomy without the will of the people is equivalent to aristocratic rule of governance,” it said. “There needs (to be) a panel of intellectual debate and will of referendum before conclusion into creation of any set of autonomous regions.”
It requested the Monpa Mimang Tsogpa to “provide a befitting clarification regarding the demand which excludes the people’s participation, and also the conduct of an executive body meeting without prior intimation to the AARSU.”
“The ultimate aim of autonomy should be based on public consensus in general and not decided by a group of elite committees, which will be detrimental to the people living in the regional area,” the union said.
TCS demands autonomy
Meanwhile, the Tagin Cultural Society (TCS) has demanded that if MAR or an autonomous district council of Tirap, Changlang and Longding are to be created, “the Tagin tribe should also be granted an autonomous council in the name and style of Tagin autonomous council, comprising the Tagin inhabited areas.”
In a press release, the TCS said the demand for creation of MAR or an autonomous district council of Tirap, Changlang and Longding was not in the larger interest of the state.
“Arunachal Pradesh is home to many tribes and sub-tribes and it has large geographical areas in which some are still inaccessible by roads, leaving aside its economic development. If at all the government desires to create such an autonomous council, it should do so for all the tribes and other backward regions of the state as well,” the TCS said.
It said West Kameng and Tawang are the most developed regions of the state “in terms of social, economic, ethnic and cultural index, and politically.
“Why and what is the necessity of creating such an autonomous region for Tawang and West Kameng and for Tirap, Changlang and Longding alone, and why not for other backward regions of the state?” it said. “Are the other regions of the state better off than these two regions in terms of social, economic, educational, ethnic or cultural development?”
While most of the villages in the aforementioned districts have pucca houses, the villagers in districts like Kurung Kumey, Kra Daadi, Kamle, Upper Subansiri, etc, are still living in dilapidated houses with thatched roofs, the TCS said.
“There are many tribes, including the Tagins, which are educationally and economically backward, and therefore the TCS demands that if the aforesaid district autonomous councils are to be created, the Tagin tribe should (also) be granted an autonomous council,” it said.
