ITANAGAR, May 11: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) and People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) have said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will have ‘annihilating’ and ‘de-tribalising’ effects on Arunachal, which is otherwise a constitutionally protected tribal state.
This Bill, if implemented, will reduce the indigenous tribal people of our region into minorities, read a joint statement of the parties.
The parties further said that it is a matter of great concern that the Members of Parliament (MPs) Kiren Rijiju, Ninong Ering and Mukut Mithi have remained quiet on this burning subject.
‘Where were they when this draconian bill was placed in the parliament’, the APCC and PPA said while adding that the three MPs must take a tough stand on the issue by opposing it or else resign from their posts.
“There is no doubt in the fact that the people in the state are vehemently against settlement of any refugee in the state. Now the onus lies purely on the government to take a tough stand in saying a big no to the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016”, read a joint statement from the APCC and PPA who met on 10 May regarding the bill.
APCC vice president Minkir Lollen said that “The Citizenship Amendment Bill is a weapon to push ahead the RSS ideology of converting the non-Hindu dominated areas in the country into Hindu dominated ones by bringing in and settling the Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. The bill is introduced at a time when the state ofArunachal is already under the serious threat of Chakma-Hajong and Tibetan refugees,” it said.
Kaling Jerang, representative of the PPA, said that even though there was a cabinet meeting yesterday, there has been no comment from the chief minister on the CitizenshipAmendment Bill.
“The inconspicuous silence of the government and its party executives on the Citizenship Amendment Bill issue is intriguing,” he said.
Both the parties also discussed at length on the need for amending the Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Act, 1986 and agreed to work together on the issue.
The Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Act 1986 should be reviewed and amended and the state of Arunachal Pradesh should be constitutionally placed in Article 371(A) instead of Article 371 (H) that will give special status to Arunachal Pradesh at par with the states of Nagaland and Mizoram, it said.