Hundreds of people belonging to Chakma and Hajong communities held peaceful protests at Diyun in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district on Saturday against the denial of Residential Proof Certificates (RPC) to them, allegedly “as part of the state government’s policy to throw them out”.
According to the protesters, on July 29, the state government suspended the already-issued RPCs and asked officials to discontinue the issuance of fresh certificates.
Krishna Chakma, spokesperson of the Chakma Hajong Rights Alliance, said that the denial of the RPCs is a continuation of racial profiling of the Chakmas and Hajongs. “We will not accept ‘Kangaroo justice’,” Krishna Chakma said, adding that such something allowed in a country governed by the rule of law.
Rup Singh Chakma, President of the Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students Union (APCSU) said such denial of certification is affecting job recruitments of youths, especially to the Indian Army. “The first victim of the denial of the RPCs are job seekers and the students. They are citizens of India and often go for recruitment in the army. They are being denied the opportunity due to suspension of the RPCs as the recruitment drive into the Indian Army has started,” said Rup Singh Chakma said.
Another protesting student leader Sumangol Chakma said that such steps is nothing but an attempt to deny the existence of the Chakmas and Hajongs in the state.
There are about 65,000 Chakma-Hajong refugees in Arunachal Pradesh. They are decendents of those who fled from East Pakistan and were settled by the Indian government. The Centre moved them to the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), which is now Arunachal Pradesh in 1964 to beef up security following the 1962 Indo-China war.
Krishna Chakma said that though they are citizens, the Arunachal Pradesh government has denied them rights despite the Supreme Court’s direction to process the citizenship applications on January 9, 1996.
“Not a single application has been processed as of date but in 2021, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister announced to resettle the Chakma and Hajong tribals outside the state. The denial of the RPCs is a part of the same campaign,” Krishna Chakma said.
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