There’s something raw and unapologetic about the way Arunachal’s students’ union responded to the Kuki Human Rights Council — and honestly, they didn’t mince a single word.
The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on September 8 launched a sharp counter-attack against the Manipur-based Kuki Human Rights Council (KHRC), after the latter wrote to both the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the United Nations over an ongoing voter roll verification drive in Bordumsa. AAPSU didn’t just push back — they went for the jugular, calling the KHRC’s move “baseless, politically motivated and unwanted interference” in Arunachal Pradesh’s internal affairs.
The flashpoint? A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) — a routine statutory exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India to verify and clean up electoral rolls. But what followed was anything but routine.
AAPSU president Meje Taku was blunt. “This is purely a matter of Arunachal Pradesh and its indigenous people. It has absolutely nothing to do with some community organisation sitting in Lamka, Churachandpur in another state,” he said. The union condemned any attempt to “internationalise” what it considers a domestic issue tied directly to indigenous rights, land and identity.
At the heart of this controversy lies the Chakma-Hajong question — a deeply sensitive issue that has simmered in the Changlang district for decades. AAPSU maintains that Chakmas and Hajongs were settled in the region between 1964 and 1969 on humanitarian grounds by the Government of India, and that indigenous tribes in the district now risk becoming minorities on their own ancestral land. That’s not a small fear — it’s an existential one for communities whose identity is inseparable from their territory.
The union was quick to clarify that its agitation during the Bordumsa SIR hearings was peaceful and democratic. It asked a pointed question: instead of filing FIRs against students, shouldn’t the administration be listening to the concerns of indigenous people? It’s the kind of question that doesn’t get a comfortable answer.
AAPSU grounded its position in law too — citing Article 371H of the Constitution and the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 as protective frameworks for Arunachal’s indigenous communities.
Then came the real counterpunch. AAPSU turned the spotlight squarely back on the KHRC — asking them to sort out the chaos in their own backyard before pointing fingers elsewhere. Manipur, the union noted, has been ravaged by prolonged ethnic violence, with thousands of people still living in relief camps. The message was unmistakable: clean your own house before knocking on someone else’s door.
“Arunachal belongs to its indigenous tribes. No amount of letters to the UN or NHRC by any outside organisation can change this historical and constitutional fact,” AAPSU stated, in what may be its most definitive line yet.
The union ended with an appeal to the Chief Election Commissioner and the state government to carry through the SIR process with full transparency — and without bowing to external pressure. They also called on the people of Arunachal Pradesh to stay united.
This standoff is bigger than a voter list. It’s about who gets to define belonging — and who gets left out of that definition. And in a land where identity and land have always been inseparable, that question carries the weight of generations.
