ITANAGAR, May 19: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has appealed to the indigenous people of the state to join the rest of the Northeast in the movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Members of the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) and the AAPSU will stage a sit-in protest against the Bill at the tennis court near IG Park here on 21 May, from 9.30 am onwards. The decision to this effect was taken in a NESO executive meeting held at Guwahati on 11 May.
The sit-in protest is the second phase of the NESO’s agitation against the Bill.
The AAPSU has also requested all the district students’ unions, the student community in general, community-based organisations, NGOs, and political parties to stand together against the Bill.
AAPSU deputy spokesperson Nepha Wangsa said the union is staging the protest to express “dismay and anguish” with regard to the Bill, which proposes to grant citizenship to people of the minority Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh after six years of residency in India.
The AAPSU said that the Centre has “not done the needful” to understand the problems and aspirations of the people of the state.
“The entire state is infested with illegal immigrants who have entered and encroached upon every aspect of our social fabric, especially in the eastern part of the state. It is indeed a matter of great worry that our culture, social structure, and way of life remain unknown to the rest of the country despite over 70 years of independence. The proposed Bill is one among the latest examples that the lawmakers in our country have no or very little regard for the indigenous populace of Arunachal Pradesh and the entire Northeast region,” Wangsa said.
The AAPSU has been carrying out rigorous democratic movements against the illegal settlement of Chakma, Hajong, Tibetan and other immigrants in the state.
The union said it will organise more democratic movements against the Bill in the near future, under the aegis of the NESO.
