Chakma-Hajong settlement plan: Demographic balance in Upper Assam will be altered, says PVM
Anti-influx body, Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) on Wednesday said the demographic balance in Upper Assam areas having small close knit indigenous communities will be altered like Lower Assam if the Chakma and Hajong refugees from Arunachal Pradesh are settled.
Reacting sharply to Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s statement that Chakma and Hajong refugees who have been settled in Arunachal Pradesh since 1960s would be relocated to Assam, PVM convenor Upamanyu Hazarika said the announcement of Rijuju that Chakmas and Hajongs in Arunachal Pradesh will be settled in Assam has tremendous implications for the Upper Assam Districts bordering Arunachal Pradesh, Charaideo, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur and Udalguri.
“So far infiltration has happened from the districts bordering Bangladesh, for which reason the border districts i.e. Dhubri, Barpeta, Barak Valley districts and Nagaon (for historical reasons) have a majority of Bangladeshi origin persons. But resettlement is now going to happen from the Arunachal side, the empty lands/ forests in the districts bordering Arunachal Pradesh will be the first target,” Hazarika said.
“Needless to say, the demographic balance in these areas having small close-knit indigenous communities will be altered like Lower Assam,” Hazarika also said.
Hazarika also said a case in point is that of Naoboisa in Lakhimpur district, which saw a huge influx of Bangladeshi Muslims, thrown out by Arunachal Pradesh and who are in majority in that area, with a decisive say in the electoral outcome there.
“The approach of the state BJP under the leadership of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in its approach to migrants is ‘secular’. Though the professed stand of the BJP, reflected in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is in favour of the minority religions of Bangladesh, primarily Hindus and the Chakmas being Buddhist, however, Sarma has expanded the benefits to migrant Muslims,” he said.
“If only last month, he urged the Muslim migrants to adopt indigenous habits and become indigenous, he also constituted a development council for Muslim fishermen from Bangladesh whose leaders are openly praising Sarma being a God for them. The focus of the BJP under Sarma is to go for the migrant Muslim support, extend assurances of security and now even the NRC is no longer on the election manifesto of the BJP,” he also said.
He added that for the indigenous communities in Assam, their biggest tragedy is their own leaders don’t protect the community’s interest in identity, unlike the other northeastern states.
“The Chakmas and the Hazongs have been settled in Arunachal Pradesh since 1964, but to date have not been given permanent resident status as it would upset the delicate demographic balance, by adding 10% to the population of 12 indigenous tribes. Despite the Supreme Court judgment of 1998 during protection to the Chakmas and Hazongs, the state and its leadership fiercely protect the interest of small tribes,” Hazarika further said.
“Assam also has over 100 small ethnic communities and the leaders over here find it more expedient to cultivate the migrant vote bank regardless of the consequences for their own communities,” he added.
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