ITANAGAR, 24 May: Presuming that the ruling BJP will retain power and form the government in Arunachal Pradesh, the Arunachal Indigenous Students Union (AISU) appealed to the party’s central leadership to chose the next chief minister from among the deserving candidates who can address the genuine concerns and fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the state’s people.
In a representation to BJP president JP Nadda, the AISU stated: “Ever since the saffron party took over the reign of the state affairs in 2016 amidst high expectations from the native populace, the indigenous faith groups have started to feel a sense of alienation, sense of insecure and preemptive deprivation in regards to their legitimate rights, security to indigenous belief systems and practices, cultural mosaics, legacies and heritages, lores and mores, customs and traditions handed down to the people from their forefathers in the primeval times.”
“It is not because your party is in power, but because of the lack of interest on the part of those wielding the helms of power in the state. The indigenous belief systems and practices are getting marginalised owing onslaught of alien faith; the tribal languages which are generally considered the wheel of culture is getting endangered in fast pace; culture and traditions are getting diluted in each passing day; lores and mores are fast disappearing from the tribes;indigenous knowledge systems are fast fading, and above all, our identity itself is getting lost, these all are happening in our own eyes owing to failure of the state government to come up with firm and appreciable policy measures to check and restrain such invading threats,” the representation read.
It, however, stated: “The AISU has no grudge against any elected leader and aspiring candidates for the august office of the chief minister, but we expect the party high command to feel the pulses of the indigenous believers and read the popular aspirations of the majority people.”
It said that, despite repeated pleas, the state government’s response to the concerns of the indigenous believers and ethnic groups has always been “lukewarm and non-fulfilling.”
“Instead, the state government seems to be more concerned and lenient towards the alien faith groups,” it said.
“There’s a growing perceptions among the native people that if such government apathy towards the genuine concerns of the large chunk of native populace persists, there is ample scope and possibilities of eminent social and religious disharmony, discords, people to people mistrust and disorders in immediate future for which no stakeholders would like it happen in a peaceful tribal state like Arunachal Pradesh,” the representation read.
