hajongs: Arunachal Pradesh is planning a census; Chakmas and Hajongs cry racial profiling

The government of Arunachal Pradesh will conduct a special census of Chakmas and Hajongs from December 11. submitted by December 31. The circular said enumerators would be appointed before December 10 and the survey work could be completed by December 20. The census would collect details on the person’s name, gender, date of birth, number, bank details, among others.

The Chakmas are an ethnic group that arrived in northeastern India from former East Pakistan in the 1960s. The Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) requested the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the head of the RSS, Mohan Bhagat, alleging racial profiling of the 65,000 Chakmas and Hajongs by carrying out an exclusive census with the “ultimate goal of displacing and expelling them” from the state. .

“The state government only targets the Chakmas and Hajongs in flagrant violation of the Indian Constitution and the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ratified by India.” said Suhas Chakma, founder of CDFI. In 2017, there was violence in the state to protest the decision to grant citizenship to the Chakma-Hajongs.