ITANAGAR : The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has strongly opposed the state government’s decision to convene a consultative meeting on the proposed inclusion of the Kachari community of Namsai and Changlang districts as Scheduled Tribe (ST), Sub-Tribe or Plains Tribe in the National Population Census, and has demanded that the meeting be withdrawn.
In a statement issued on Friday, the union said it would not allow the proposal to proceed unchallenged and warned of intensified agitation if the meeting, scheduled for July 13, goes ahead.
According to a circular issued by the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Tribal Affairs, the consultative meeting will be held at the Civil Secretariat, Itanagar, under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. Representatives of the All Arunachal Pradesh Kachari Community Development Council, Sonowal Kachari Jatiya Parishad and All Arunachal Pradesh Sonowal Kachari Students’ Union have been invited to participate.
AAPSU president Meje Taku said the union’s opposition to the proposal was “firm and non-negotiable.”
“Arunachal Pradesh is a 100 per cent tribal state, protected by the Inner Line Permit regime under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, because our land, resources and political rights belong exclusively to the indigenous people of this state. Granting Scheduled Tribe status to communities that are not indigenous to Arunachal Pradesh would strike at the very foundation of that protection,” he said.
The union further argued that the Sonowal Kachari community already enjoys Scheduled Tribe (Plains) status in Assam and questioned the need for another tribal recognition in Arunachal Pradesh.
AAPSU also cautioned that any dilution of the criteria for Scheduled Tribe recognition in the state could create a precedent for similar claims by other communities with historical or ethnolinguistic links to the region, potentially affecting the demographic and political balance of Arunachal Pradesh.
Warning that such a move could disturb peace and social harmony, the union urged the Chief Secretary and the state government to withdraw the proposed meeting and reaffirm that the existing criteria for Scheduled Tribe status in Arunachal Pradesh would not be diluted or extended beyond the state’s indigenous tribes.
