NES seeks investigation by NIA in Kimin’s ‘renaming’ fiasco

Staff Reporter

ITANAGAR, 23 Jun: The Nyishi Elite Society (NES) on Wednesday demanded that the state government and the centre engage the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the episode, wherein Kimin was ‘renamed’ as Bilgarh, Assam and its name covered up in white, so that the conspirator(s) could be reprimanded.

Members of the NES, the All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU) and the All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA) visited Kimin on Wednesday and held a joint meeting with the public and the district administration to assess the ground reality.

Interacting with the media, NES president Bengia Tolum said that the state and central governments should engage the NIA to investigate on the episode to unearth the truth and find out the conspirator(s).

“We want to know the root cause. Who is behind the conspiracy behind renaming Kimin as Bilgarh, Assam? Kimin is a part of Arunachal since the pre-Independence era. Kimin used to be a base camp to Subansiri district. How did it become Bilgarh? We want answers to these questions from the Arunachal as well as the Assam government,” demanded Tolum.

“In 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi landed at Ziro and renamed NEFA as Arunachal Pradesh. Indira Gandhi was not scared of anyone. Today, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is even scared to call Arunachal Pradesh by its name. Why did he come here? He should have inaugurated the incomplete road project virtually from New Delhi,” Tolum added.

The NES president also questioned how the chief minister of the state and the protocol department were not aware of the programme since the ceremony was organised in Arunachal.

Commenting on the issue, ANSU president Nabam Dodum informed that they would “make a bigger issue on the incident.”

Refusing to accept the miscommunication narrative, the ANSU president said that “the government is hiding something as it is impossible that the chief minister and union minister of the state were not aware about the incident as the defense minister was visiting.”

Dodum said that the ANSU would stand with the NES in whatever resolution it (NES) would take to find out the conspirator(s).

ANYA general secretary Bengia Tada also said that the organizations will not accept the Border Road Organization’s clarification given to the deputy commissioner of Papum Pare district, and termed the letter “causal and not apologetic.”