Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Aug 22: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Wednesday accused state’s big shots of shielding inner line permit (ILP) violators for their personal interest and of putting the state demographic in grave danger.
These big shots, it said, included technocrats, businessmen and politicians.
The AAPSU had launched the ‘Operation Clean Drive (OCD)’ on 17 August against illegal infiltrators in the wake of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) publication, fearing rising influx in the state.
Addressing a press conference here after temporarily suspending its OCD, AAPSU president Hawa Bagang claimed that the AAPSU found most ILP violators to be workers or labourers of businessmen, technocrats and politicians in the state.
The AAPSU further vowed to continue its movement “till the last violator is sent out from the state”.
“Majority of ILP violators were either workers or labourers of big shots, which means that they are openly defying the law”, said the AAPSU president.
“We are being criticized for working in the state’s interest. Those who are shielding and protecting illegal ILP violators will face the consequences someday”, he said, while terming illegal infiltrators as parasites to the state’s interest.
The apex students’ organisation had also drawn flak from some quarters, accusing them of unnecessarily harassing many non-APST people on the pretext of the OCD.
The AAPSU denied those allegations and claimed that the members “treated them nicely”.
It also claimed that the business communities opposing its OCD are doing it for their personal benefits.
Bagang asserted that the AAPSU is working well within the prescribed law under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873.
“Since the administration and police miserably failed, there is nothing wrong on AAPSU’s part in launching operation clean drive to protect our own land and people”, he added.
Bagang also alleged that some police personnel collect Rs 200 each from ILP seekers at check gates and are responsible for the heavy influx. He sought serious action against such police personnel by the police department.
Taking a dig on critics, including the Itanagar Market Welfare Association, Bagang said, “No organisation can stop the AAPSU from working for the state’s interest”.
On the reported reaction against the AAPSU’s movement in Assam, he said “the people of Assam should not listen to those violators who are trying to instigate hate against the AAPSU and Arunachalees”.
“AAPSU has no issue if you have proper documents”, Bagang said while appealing to ILP violators to get their documents corrected.
AAPSU’s OCD chairman Tatung Taga informed that in the first phase of the OCD, the union detected 2,208 ILP violators.
The union will discuss on measures to ensure that ILP violators have their documents in order before coming back to Arunachal, and introduce an effective mechanism to check them.
“The union would soon launch its second phase of OCD after holding discussions with its federal units”, he added.
