Guwahati: A census set to be conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh government for the state’s Chakma and Hajong tribal groups, has again stoked longstanding controversy involving these people, with many from the community terming the separate census a case of “racial profiling”.
The Chakmas — a predominantly Buddhist community — had fled from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to India in 1964, following alleged communal violence and the construction of the Kaptai hydroelectric dam in Chittagong, which had displaced nearly one lakh people from the community. The Hajongs, a Hindu tribal group, had also taken refuge in India after fleeing from Mymensingh district around the same time, also because of alleged religious persecution.
The Indian government had back in 1972 decided to grant citizenship status to the Chakma and Hajong refugees following a joint statement by the PMs of India and Bangladesh.
The move had been opposed by the North-East Frontier Agency government (now Arunachal Pradesh government) at the time saying that it would not permit “outsiders” to settle in its territory as it would affect the demography. The issue was never resolved.
From November last year onwards, district administrations of Changlang, Namsai and Papum Pare — Arunachal districts where a majority of the Chakmas and Hajongs reside — have issued notices informing the people from the two communities about the government decision to conduct separate census, exclusively for the two communities.
The move has been opposed by the Chakmas and Hajongs here.
In December last year, the Chakma Development Foundation of India wrote to Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu, claiming that the exclusive census would amount to contempt of a 1996 Supreme Court verdict against attempts to forcefully evict these communities from the state.
“Last year the Honourable CM of Arunachal Pradesh had specifically announced that Chakmas will be relocated outside the state, so all the Chakmas and Hajongs are fearful about what will happen and so for this purpose we think that they are doing this census to target us,” said Rup Singh Chakma, president, Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students’ Union (APCSU).
Rup Singh was referring to Khandu’s Independent Day statement last year, in which the CM had said that “all illegal immigrant Chakmas will be moved and settled in some other places with honour, as per the Constitution.”
On Tuesday, APCSU, Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Hajong Students Association and a few other groups organised a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against the state government’s decision of exclusive census, describing it as “racial profiling”.
Lachit Hajong, vice president in the Chakma Hajong Elders Forum and a Hajong leader, too termed the census as illegal. “Hajongs are Hindu by religion. There are only 3,000 Hajongs, but the government is saying that there has been a population explosion. This is not possible…and now they’re illegally taking this census.”
ThePrint reached the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein over phone for a comment. but received no response till the time of publication of this report. The copy will be updated once his response is received.
The Deputy CM is also heading a state-level high powered ministerial committee on the issue of “Chakma and Hajong Immigrants”, which was notified last year.
The committee is in charge of conducting the special census, as well as demarcating settlement areas as per the original designated camps, and “keep them within designated camps”, as well as identifying resettlement camps, in cases the original camps have become uninhabitable.
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Why there’s opposition
The exclusive census for the two communities is currently at different stages in the three districts. Confidence-building programmes with village headmen of Chakma and Hajong settlements has also been planned. According to notifications issued by the Namsai district administration on 24 March, which have been accessed by ThePrint, a census of the Chakma and Hajong residents had been planned for 28 March in the district.
“It was about to start, but the Chakma people said that we won’t cooperate,” said R.K. Sharma, deputy commissioner of Namsai district.
He added: “We have informed the state government of the ground situation, but there has been no further instruction in this regard.”
Deputy commissioners in these districts, who are also members of the state-level committee on Chakmas and Hajongs mentioned above, told ThePrint that the census for Chakma and Hajong communities had also been conducted back in 2011 and 2015. While the 2015 Census was an exclusive one for Chakmas and Hajongs, the 2011 was a general Census, but the deputy commissioners claimed exclusive counting of these two communities took place then too.
“This has been repeatedly done in the state of Arunachal, because being protected by special provisions of the Constitution (371H), permanent resident certificates are only given to scheduled tribes (indigenous to the state),” said deputy commissioner of Changlang district, Devansh Yadav.
He added: “So, if there is some outsider settlement, the state constantly ensures that no illegal migration is happening in addition to the original population.”
The population in Arunachal Pradesh also comprises settlers from other communities, including those who migrated from Tibet and Bhutan.
When asked why exclusive census for these communities were not being conducted by the state government, Yadav said, “Census for these settlements aren’t taken because they are too small in number… In my district, the population of Tibetans is 2,000-2,500, while the Chakma population goes up to 60,000.”
Responding to Yadav’s references of previous censuses, Rup Singh said, “We didn’t oppose the earlier censuses because there was earlier no question of our relocation.”
Following CM Kandu’s statement on resettlement of “illegal Chakma immigrants”, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju — the first Union cabinet minister from the state — had also brought up the Citizenship Amendment Act while on a three-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh in August last year and said that its provisions would ensure that “except for the indigenous tribal people no foreigners can get ST status in the state”.
The CAA, however, will not be not applicable to Arunachal Pradesh.
“We would’ve cooperated (for the census), but since they seem to have a hidden agenda, which was reiterated by the law minister Kiren Rijiju, we are scared. Also, the decadal census is coming so why not do it with other communities,” Rup Singh said.
AAPSU claims over 2 lakh “illegals”
A memorandum submitted by the APSCU to the Home Ministry following the protest in Delhi, of which ThePrint has a copy, claimed that the “special census of the Chakmas and Hajongs is being conducted under pressure from the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU)”.
In December last year, AAPSU — the apex students’ union body in the state — had given the government a 15-day ultimatum, to carry out the census of the Chakma and Hajong residents of the state.
Hawa Bagang, President AAPSU, told ThePrint their ultimatum wasn’t on account of the original Chakma and Hajong settlers, but those who have “illegally” migrated later from other Northeastern states.
“Many illegals (of the Chakma and Hajong community) have also come here from Tripura, Assam and other places,” he claimed and added, “There are over 53,000 people who are legal, but a total of 2-2.5 lakh Chakmas now live here.”
But Suhas Chakma, Founder of Chakma Development Foundation of India, “The Census in 2011 had put the Chakma speaking population at nearly 40,000, where is the question of 2 lakhs. The population of the state only is over 12 lakh,” said
A complicated citizenship story
The AAPSU stand against the Chakmas and Hajongs in Arunchal is, however, not new.
By 1987, 15 years after the formation of the state of Arunachal Pradesh, an AAPSU-led movement had begun against the Chakmas and Hajongs.
In 1996 the Supreme Court, in the National Human Rights Commission vs State of Arunachal Pradesh case, had noted that the Chakmas were “being subjected to repressive measures with a view to forcibly expelling them from the State of Arunachal’.
The court further declared the Chakmas and Hajongs as citizens of the country and directed the Union and state governments to process their citizenship applications.
In 2007, the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh, along with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), petitioned the Supreme Court again on the ground that the state government had failed to approve the citizenship applications that had been filed. In 2015, the apex court directed the state government and the Centre to grant Chakmas and Hajongs citizenship within three months.
“However, not a single application has been processed as on date,” NHRC said in January in an order following a complaint filed by the Chakma Development Foundation of India.
Calling the notification for a census of Chakmas and Hajongs “an act of racial profiling”, the NHRC on 24 January, had further sought responses from the Centre and state government and said, “Both the authorities are also expected to ensure that human rights of the Chakmas and Hajongs are protected by all the ways”.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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