Guwahati, April 25: Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday clarified that his previous statement about relocating the Chakma and Hajong communities from Arunachal Pradesh to Assam was misunderstood.

Talking to media persons, Kiren Rijiju said, “My words were misunderstood. There is an effort to cause confusion during elections and damage the reputation of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Besides, the Chakma and Hajong people do not receive permanent citizenship in Arunachal Pradesh,”.

“As far as my statement is concerned, I had only said that we need to explore alternative arrangements for relocation of Chakma-Hajong refugees from Arunachal Pradesh to other states because the Chakma-Hajong refugees, according to the Citizenship Amendment Act passed in Parliament, cannot get permanent resident certificates for citizenship in Arunachal, which is a tribal state,” Rijiju clarified.

Rijiju said, “We had taken up the matter with the Union home minister in regard to requesting the members of the Chakma-Hajong communities to relocate to other states. We had asked help from the NEDA convenor, Himanta Biswa Sarma in this regard as well. But I had never said that all Chakma-Hajong refugees should be settled in Assam only. An option is being looked at and an appeal is made to settle the Chakma and Hajong people from Arunachal Pradesh across India,”.

The Chakma-Hajong refugees were settled in Arunachal by the then Congress government between 1964 and 1970.

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