ITANAGAR, Nov 29: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has served a two-day ultimatum, demanding “immediate withdrawal of the BJP party tickets to the two non-indigenous ZPM candidates in Changlang district” for the upcoming panchayat election.
“If such demand is not met, it (AAPSU) shall carry out rigorous democratic movement across the state, with first phase in all concerned districts and second phase in the entire state,” the AAPSU said in a press statement on Sunday.
It also appealed to all political parties of the state not to issue party tickets to non-APSTs in the state, and said that it has been urging the government to not include non-indigenous people in the electoral politics in local body elections, and that it has also been seeking deletion of voting rights of refugees in Arunachal for a long time.
Claiming that the state government has been turning a deaf ear to its representations against inclusion of non-indigenous people in electoral politics, the AAPSU said the ruling BJP government “is playing with the sentiments of the people by issuing party ticket to non-indigenous persons, which is bleach to the rights of the indigenous people in the state.”
Recalling the vision of the architect of local self-government in Arunachal, Daying Ering, the AAPSU said, “There is a great need to uphold his dream and spirit in which the panchayat system came into being. But we are walking against his vision.”
The union said the temporary settlers and refugees in the state have been settled with specific privileges, with no equal sharing of rights with the indigenous people.
Referring to the Arunachal Pradesh Land Settlement Act, 2000, the AAPSU also said that “there is no space for the participation of non-indigenous in local body elections.”
