Tezpur (Assam): Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Chakma Hajong refugees would be relocated outside the frontier state before being granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019.
Over 67,000 members of the Hajong and Chakma communities who are currently residents of Arunachal Pradesh will relocate to Assam. “They are staying here as guests. They are not entitled to get a permanent resident certificate (PRC) of citizenship here,” Rijiju said in the presence of state home minister Bamang Felix and BJP MLA from Itanagar, Techi Kacho.
After the enactment of the Citizenship Act, according to that law, the Government of India will grant citizenship to those who have been living in India after being divided into three nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh due to religious persecution.
Accordingly, even if no person has been settled in Assam from outside, the Chief Minister of Assam, in consultation with Arunachal Pradesh, has made it clear that Chakma-Hajongs should be settled in Assam, said Rijiju.
The burning issue: As directed by the Supreme Court in the 1996 case of National Human Rights Commission v. Arunachal Pradesh government, the Chakmas and Hajongs have been demanding Indian citizenship since then.
“We have already talked to the Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma about the resettlement of Chakmas in Assam. It is a big issue. There is also resistance from local residents here,” the Union minister said.
Rijiju countered that although the Hajong and Chakma people were settled under the administrations of Indira Gandhi and Nehru, the BJP opposed granting them citizenship in Arunachal Pradesh. They claimed that because of the opposition from majority of the tribals, many Chakma and Hajongs' applications for citizenship have remained pending.
"Defaming the minorities brings votes of the majority tribals and Rijiju is playing the same card ahead of the elections," said Suhas Chakma, rights activist and founder of Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI). However, the BJP is optimistic that it will win both Lok Sabha seats once more and hold onto power in the state for another consecutive term.
“We also initiated talks with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, we don’t want to make We have been trying for their resettlement for the past three years. We are looking for a suitable land for it. We will tell them to leave once we finalise the land there,” Rijiju said.
He also said that they have been working silently on the issue and and Assam government has been urged to identify an appropriate location for their relocation.
In absence of “proof of residence” Chakmas and Hajongs are not considered as Indian citizens and, therefore, are ineligible for any official identification documents, Rijiju alleged. The residential proof certificates which were issued by an extra assistant commissioner (EEAC) of Changlang district were also suspended from his service, he added.
On April 24, 2023, Chief Minister Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh declared that, following the settlement of the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary dispute, he would distribute the Chakmas and Hajongs throughout various Indian states. This is because, as refugees, they are not allowed to remain permanently in the state, which is safeguarded as a tribal state by the Indian Constitution.
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