40 years on, Chakma refugees win right to vote, The Hindu, 4 May 2004

40 years on, Chakma refugees win right to vote

Chakma girls showing their age certificate after their names were enrolled in the voters list in Jyotiput Chakma refugee village. - Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

Sushanta Talukdar

DIYUN, ARUNACHAL PRADESH

Bimal Kanti Chakma, assistant gaon burah (assistant village headman) of Jyotipur, a Chakma village in the East Arunachal Lok Sabha constituency, is today a happy man. The reason: his daughter Helen will be one of the first batch of 1,497 privileged Chakma and Hajong refugees of Arunachal Pradesh exercising their right to vote when polling takes place on May 5.

Even though Mr. Chakma himself did not get the franchise, he is busy trying to get the young voters of his community understand the importance of exercising their franchise, earned after a relentless struggle of 40 years. Mr. Chakma is also the assistant general secretary of the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCAP) that has been fighting for Indian citizenship for over 60,000 Chakma and Hajong refugees living in Arunachal Pradesh. The Chakma and Hajong refugees in Arunachal Pradesh fled their ancestral land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh following religious persecution of these Buddhist followers.

"We have decided to form committees in each Chakma village to ensure that every Chakma voter with voting rights exercises this hard-earned right. On the day of the polling the village elders will accompany these young voters to the polling station. The granting of voting rights to Chakma and Hajong youths is an important step in our struggle for citizenship rights," Mr. Chakma says.

The boycott call given by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) in protest against granting of voting rights to the Chakma and Hajong refugees seems to have made no impact in Diyun, which has the highest concentration of refugees. However, the election department has identified all the 14 polling stations, of which eight are in Chakma and Hajong settlements, as sensitive and has arranged adequate security to ensure that Chakma and Hajong voters are not prevented from voting.

Expressing full confidence that the polling would pass off peacefully, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, T. Rumi, said that personnel of the Border Security Force and India Reserve Battalion besides Arunachal Pradesh Police have already been deployed in the polling areas.

Leaders of the Singpho and Khamti, local Arunachali tribes, have also not opposed granting of voting rights to the Chakmas and the Hajongs. "We are happy that our Chakma and Hajong brothers will be voting for the first time. The Singphos and Chakmas have many things in common. Both follow the Hunyan sect of Buddhism. Since they have been given shelter by the Indian Government we feel that they should be granted their constitutional rights too," says former MLA K.G. Singpho who met Bimal Chakma to discuss the elections. In sharp contrast to the protest by the AAPSU in Itanagar, posters of the Independent candidate Tony Pertin could be seen in Lohit and Changlang districts sporting the legend "Supported by AAPSU."

Though numerically the 1,497 Chakma and Hajong voters are insignificant in the poll battle between the sitting MP, Wangcha of the Congress, and Tapir Gao of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Chakma and Hajong refugee issue has tended to dominate Arunachal Pradesh politics.

Only those descendants of Chakma and Hajong voters were included in the voters list who were born in Arunachal Pradesh between 1964 and 1987 after the Election Commission directed the State Election Department to undertake a special summary revision of the rolls in May last year. The CCRCAP moved the Delhi High Court after the State election department rejected its application for inclusion of Chakma names in the electoral rolls.

Thirtytwo-year-old Kriti Bikash Chakma, a graduate of Assam's Dibrugarh University, is excited to have received the right to vote. "We are grateful to both the Central and the State Governments for giving us the right," he says.