Prafulla Kaman
OYAN, Apr 4: Congress candidate for the eastern parliamentary constituency, James Lowangcha Wanglat, said he would oppose the NDA government’s move to introduce the citizenship amendment bill (CAB) and demand amendment of the provisions of the State of Arunachal Pradesh Act, 1986, to protect the indigenous people’s land rights.
Addressing a public gathering at Oyan village in East Siang district on Thursday, Wanglat said the central BJP leaders were worried about his winning prospect “and therefore several of them are converging into the eastern region to campaign for the BJP candidate.”
He claimed that, fearing his political strength, the BJP top brass is bringing in a number of star campaigners, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, and others, to eastern Arunachal to mobilize the people against him, “thereby spending crores of rupees in the name of poll campaign.”
“The BJP leaders are trying to suppress the voice of the people of the northeastern region. It is trying hard to prevent the victory of the Congress candidates, fearing that the Congress MPs would oppose their anti-people policies like the CAB and other detrimental policies,” Wanglat said.
He said the CAB proposed by the Modi-led NDA government would be extremely detrimental to the indigenous people of the Northeast and might ruin the age-old unity and integrity among the ethnic communities.
“The bill was formulated to give citizenship to foreign nationals in India for creating religious polarization,” Wanglat said.
Speaking about the State of Arunachal Pradesh Act, Wanglat said the act is devoid of land rights for the indigenous people. He said the act was enforced under Section 378 of the constitution of India, wherein land rights and intellectual property rights for the indigenous people were not preserved.
Wanglat gave assurance that he would strongly take up the problems of the NE states with the central government if the people bring Congress MPs and MLAs to power.
Speaking on the recent incident of the seizure of a huge amount of money from a BJP leader’s vehicle in Pasighat, Wanglat said the saffron party was “playing a dirty game to buy votes with money, thereby disgracing the democratic system of the country.”
Wanglat was on a two-day poll campaign tour, covering several assembly constituencies in the Siang belt. He was accompanied by Congress MLA candidate and former MP Ninong Ering in Pasighat West area.
