GAF questions Centre’s stand on Aruchal

From Our Correspondent

Itagar, Jan 31: While urging the state as well as the Central government not to put Aruchal Pradesh in peril time and again, Green Aruchal Foundation (GAF) fully agrees with the complaints and lamentations of All Aruchal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) for appointment of a regular Governor for Aruchal Pradesh

There was a time when Aruchal Pradesh used to be in gaiety in its Union Territory days, when the state had a constitutiol head of the cadre and stature of K A A Raja as its Lt Governor, the foundation said in a statement here today.

“People of the state enjoyed democracy to the fullest even in the recent past years during the tenure of Gen (Rtd) J J Singh as the governor. It wasn’t for nothing that the then UPA government, with consultation with the state government, hooked in persolities like Singh and Gen (Rtd) Nirbhay Sharma as governors who were well acquainted with the topography and the people of the state, due particularly to their Defence background,” the GAF said. “It must be realized that for a state sharing intertiol borders with neighbouring countries and a huge eastern part of which is infested by insurgency, must have a constitutiol head of quite a high persolity,” it pointed out.

However, things started changing for the worst after the now and then interference of the Central government in the functioning of the state. To make matters worse, the Centre started making decisions in almost every matter of the state without consultation with or consent of the representatives as well as the people of the state, the foundation said. In the first instance, the Centre appointed J P Rajkhowa as the governor without proper consultation with the elected representatives of the state. Every Aruchalee is well aware of the jeopardy that this arbitrary decision of the Centre brought about for the state, GAF chairman Takam Tatung said.

“It is unfortute that nobody seems to learn from the mistake. As if the previous blunder was not enough, the Centre shoved in one of its chosen candidates  - V Shanmugathan, the governor of Meghalaya – giving him an additiol charge of the governor of Aruchal. Exasperatingly, nothing has been learnt till now. After Shanmugathan’s shameful resigtion due to the ‘Young Ladies Club’ episode of Shillong Rajbhawan, Centre has appointed another governor for Aruchal Pradesh on additiol charge, this time the governor of galand, who sounds nothing more or less than the previous one,” Tatung alleged.

“The central government should stop making arbitrary decisions about Aruchal Pradesh. One such act of the centre had proved fatal. Last year the deputy commissioners of Tirap, Changlang and Longding were summoned to some unknown location in the Patkai Hills region of eastern Aruchal Pradesh for some secret discussions. It is surprising that even the then Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary of Aruchal were kept in dark about that proposed agenda, probably under the direction of the Centre,” the statement added.