Rijiju now says Chakmas can't be given citizenship

Citizenship to them will disturb the “demography” of Arunachal Pradesh, says Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju addresses the second Smart Border Management conference at FICCI in New Delhi on September 18, 2017.

Days after saying that the Centre would honour the 2015 Supreme Court order on granting citizenship to the Chakma-Hajongs, Buddhists and Hindus from undivided Pakistan, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said on September 19 that the Supreme Court order was not implementable.

In an about turn, Mr. Rijiju said the two persecuted communities who came from Chittagong (now Bangladesh, then undivided Pakistan) were settled in Arunachal Pradesh between 1964-69 by the then Congress government and any citizenship to them will disturb the “demography” of the tribal State.

 

Mr. Rijiju said that the media had misrepresented his comments on the Chakma-Hajongs and that the Centre would appeal in the Supreme Court against its earlier 2015 direction to grant citizenship to them.

“Arunachal Pradesh enjoys special status as per Constitution. As a Member of Parliament from Arunachal, I have to stand by my people,” Mr. Rijiju said.