Naharlagun, May 2: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) today set the stage for a more acrimonious battle than the Lok Sabha poll by threatening to “go to any length” to prevent the Chakma and Hajong communities from making their voting debut on Wednesday.
Two days after the militant National Liberation Front of Arunachal backed its campaign against the two refugee tribes, the student organisation warned the administration of “drastic action” if the Election Commission did not drop them from the electoral rolls.
About 15,000 members of the Chakma and Hajong communities had applied for the right to vote, but only 1,497 were included in the electoral rolls after producing proof of their birth in India.
AAPSU finance secretary Kanta Lapung said his organisation knew what to do to get around the Election Commission’s order. “We will not disclose anything now, but we are determined to ensure that the refugees are not allowed to vote, and we are prepared to go to any extent to do that,” he said.
Leaders of the state’s apex students’ association, including its president Byabang Taj, are in Changlang and Lohit districts “to take stock of the situation there”, a source said.
The Chakmas and the Hajongs, numbering over 60,000, are based in these two districts. Those who have been granted the right to vote are spread across Bordumsa, Miao and Chowkham Assembly constituencies.
The two Lok Sabha seats of Arunachal East and Arunachal West have 12 contenders. The BJP has fielded candidates for both, while the Congress and the Arunachal Congress have chosen to contest one each.
Though there has been no violence so far, the Election Commission is on tenterhooks because of the AAPSU’s stand. “We are very much concerned and are closely monitoring the developments,” deputy election commissioner Noor Mohammed told the media in the Nagaland capital on Friday.
The students’ association is, however, not opposed to any delegation of the Chakmas visiting the state. “We are not averse to talks. But at the same time, we would like to reiterate that they should not expect anything from us,” Lapung said, referring to the peace initiative by the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh.
On political parties not backing the AAPSU’s “no-solution-no-election” stand, he said: “We are not bothered what the politicians think.”
In an attempt to placate the students’ association, chief minister Gegong Apang volunteered to resign “if a proper solution to the vexed Chakma and Hajong issue is not found after the parliamentary elections”.
The statement seemed to embarrass Union ministers C.P. Thakur and Swami Chinmayanand, both of whom were present at the rally.
Addressing a 5,000-strong crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here, Apang, who had been under fire for keeping mum on the subject, said: “I am ready to even quit if the refugee issue is not resolved at the earliest.”