ES Reporter

ITANAGAR, Jan 11: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) while calling the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as totally unconstitutional, and against the interest of indigenous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast as a whole has asked the state government to convene an assembly session for passing a resolution opposing the Bill.
In a press conference on Friday, the APCC, President, Takam Sanjay while affirming to fight tooth and nail against the Bill, described it as totally unconstitutional, insidious, communal and against the essence of the Constitution of India.
“After assuming power in 2014, the reckless BJP government instead of solving the emerging issues confronting the development of Northeast is trying to create chaos, communal tension, hatred among the peace-loving people with dictatorship type governance,” Sanjoy alleged.
Earlier, amid protests from various political parties, student organizations, civil societies etc, the Lok Sabha on January 8 passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslims who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and entered India before December 31, 2014.
Sanjoy said that Illegal migration has been a sensitive issue in the Northeast since time immemorial and the BJP has passed the Bill at a time when people of all Northeast states especially Arunachal are fighting to deport illegal migrants.
Sanjay asked the state government to learn some lesson from Conrad K Sangma led Meghalaya government that passed a resolution to oppose the Bill.
Terming the whole mess as last minute politics of the BJP government to appease a particular community to vote for the BJP in the ensuing election, Sanjoy said that the BJP is not going to get any benefit out this, except for creating communal tension in the entire Northeast region.
Sanjoy further accused the state government of irregularly distributing schemes under PMGSY, SIDF, and SADA etc to lure voters.
“Various developmental schemes are being bartered for votes by the BJP government in the state today and Vigilance department and SIC (State Investigation Cell) is being used as a tool to cover up all its wrongdoings,” the APCC president alleged.
He also accused the state government of not issuing NOC to various government officers, who had applied for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and claimed that “anyone can take VRS by giving one-month prior notice and government cannot curtail their rights.”
He cautioned that if such things continue then the party may report about it to the Chief Elector Officer and Chief Election Commission of India. 
The Green Arunachal Foundation (GAF) while strongly opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, appreciated  the vociferous disapproval and objection to the Bill by the governments of Mizoram and Meghalaya despite being a party to the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA)
Chairman, Takam Tatung while questioning the silence of the state government over the issue opined that once it becomes a law, the controversial Bill would prove detrimental especially for Arunachal Pradesh
 “At a time when the MoS for Home belongs from Arunachal Pradesh, it is unfortunate to see that the state is dancing to the tune of the Centre sans any second thought for the future. GoAP must be aware that the state is already laden with the Chakma-Hajong and Tibetan problems,” Tatung asserted.
Further, the GAF also expressed reservation over the announcement of the state government to grant PRC to few Non-APST tribes residing in the state and asked the government not to let Arunachal become the next Tripura.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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