‘INDIGENES’ UNREST IN ARUNACHAL
The violence that erupted on the streets of Itanagar on February 21, resulting in the death of seven people, started as a protest against the Arunachal Pradesh government’s decision to grant Permanent Residence Certificate, or PRC, to members of six communities—Adivasi, Deori, Gorkha, Mishing, Moran, and Sonowal Kachari—who live in Namsai and Changlang districts. Sources in the state’s BJP government say this move had been pushed by Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, who represents Lekang in Namsai district in the assembly, in an attempt to woo voters from these communities. On February 23, protesters burnt down Mein’s residence in the state capital.
Arunachal will hold its assembly poll alongside the Lok Sabha election scheduled in about two months.
The PRC is a certificate issued by the government proving the domicile of an individual and entitles him or her to domicile-specific quotas for admissions to educational institutions or jobs. The PRC is issued only to the Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes (APSTs). Several other communities have been demanding it. They don’t have land rights and often take land on long-term lease from the indigenous tribals. The APSTs believe that giving the PRC to non-tribal communities will allow them to grab land and other resources, posing a threat to the culture of the local tribes. Non-tribal communities, while demanding the PRC, have in the past resorted to road blockades and violence, fuelling fear among the APSTs.
To examine the demand for the PRC, the state government had last year formed a joint high power committee (JHPC), headed by minister Nabam Rebia. The committee submitted its report this January. However, even before the JHPC submitted its report, Mein had at a rally in Vijaynagar, Chaklang district, on December 7 last year announced that the government would grant the PRC to non-tribal communities as a “new year gift”. The JHPC reportedly recommended extending the PRC to these communities with 1968 as the cut-off year. The state government was supposed to table the JHPC report in the assembly on February 23. However, on February 21, 18 organisations called for a 48hour bandh to protest the alleged recommendation of the JHPC. “Coercive means were used to force the JHPC to immediately submit a report because polls are only a couple of months away,” says state Congress president Takam Sanjoy. “The BJP and RSS want to destroy the unique identity and culture of the people of the Northeast,” says Luizinho Faleiro, Congress’s incharge of the Northeast states.
The state government has refused to acknowledge the protest as a spontaneous reaction. “It is politically motivated. Some groups with vested interest have instigated the violence,” says Chief Minister Pema Khandu.