ITANAGAR, 17 Oct: The All Pakke-Kessang District Students’ Union (APKDSU) has urged the caretaker president of the All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU), Nabam Dodum, to “withdraw his ‘anti-Nyishi’statement.”
Thaddeus Techi, acting president of the APKDSU,addressed reporters on Wednesday during a press conference at the press club, alleging that Dodum engaged in “character assassination against the ANSU.”
“On 10 September, three organisations were formed under Dodum’s supervision, with 66 central executives inducted across three branches, each comprising 22 members,” Techi said.
He said that a notification from the acting ANSU president on the same day “was based solely on a single recommendation, which has been met with ongoing protests by their union.”
“Our rights have been curtailed, and the ANSU president has misused his power,” he added.
Techi said that, on 21 September, the AAPSU had recommended his name as the acting president of the APKDSU to address the conflict in the APKDSU, and that, “after due consultation with all the students leaders, it was decided that they would oppose the overnight formation of one-man recommendation, and accordingly the district students’ union has decided to form the organisation.”
Techi said, “We thought that forming a branch student union and holding an election is an independent right of the district students’ union, but here in our case, the acting ANSU president has over-exercised it and seized this right from us,”
On 7 October the APKDSU conducted election for a branch student union in Pakke-Kessang district in the presence of a magistrate on duty, and the oath-taking ceremony took place on 9 October.
“On 12 October, Dodum issued an order, labelling the APKDSU incumbents ‘anti-Nyishi’,” Techi said, and criticised Dodum for “overstepping his authority by establishing branch student unions, which should be the prerogative of the concerned district students’ union.”
Saying that terming someone ‘anti-Nyishi’ is a matter for serious discussion, Techi urged “all the Nyishi bodies to come out for an amicable solution on the issue.”
He also requested Dodum to withdraw his statement in the larger interest of the society.
Citing the example of former minister late Dera Natung, who was the founder president of the ANSU, Techi said that, while Natung believed in unifying the Nyishi community through the ANSU, “today the students of his home district are being deprived and compelled to launch an agitation at the ANSU office.”
While the formation of branch students’ unions should be done by the district students’ unions, “Dodum has made the appointment of BSU executives based on one-man recommendation,” said Techi, and further stated that “the ANSU president doesn’t have the authority to appoint all central executive members of a BSU. He only has the power to affiliate them with the ANSU after the formation of the BSU.”
APKDSU general secretary Samson Techi Tara said that Dodum appointed Vijay Tana Tara on 10 September as chairman for selecting three BSUs in Pakke-Kessang, and 66 members were accordingly appointed.”
“The preparations for the BSU election took a long time, and the selection made by Dodum was random,” Samson said.
