Staff Reporter

ITANAGAR, 4 Aug: Arunachal Frontier Tribal Front (AFTF) chairman Tadak Nalo on Tuesday announced a peaceful march on 8 August, demanding the scrapping of the 80:20 job reservation ratio.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the AFTF chairman said that the march will be held on the same date as the Quit India Movement (8 August)as a symbol of peaceful agitation, demanding the scrapping of the 80:20 ratio.

Nalo further accused the Chief Minister Pema Khandu-led government of “arrogance” for ignoring the organisation’s repeated demand.

“The government’s arrogance on the 80:20 ratio issue will compel us to launch a ‘do or die’ agitation if our peaceful and democratic means are not heeded,” Nalo said.

Earlier, the government had denied permission for a peaceful agitation planned on 11 July, stating that it was already working on the 80:20 ratio issue. “We have been hearing for the last four years that the government is working on the issue,” Nalo said, and accused the state government of “resorting to delaying tactics” by constituting a high-level committee headed by former education minister Taba Tedir.

“If the government is at all serious and sincere about scrapping the 80:20 ratio, it does not need a high-level committee. It can be scrapped on the same lines as the governments of Manipur and Mizoram did. They did not scrap it by constituting a high-level committee,” he said.

“Without constituting a high-level committee, it can be ensured if the government is serious,” Nalo said, and gave the government a deadline till 10 August to meet its demand.

“So far, we have been raising the issue legally, reasonably, and intellectually,” he said. “On 31 July, we called on the district magistrate, superintendent of police, and Itanagar Municipal Corporation commissioner, seeking permission for a peaceful march on 8 August from Akashdeep to Indira Gandhi Park to express our sentiments,” he added.

He reiterated that the 8 August march is significant as it marks the Quit India Movement of 1942 and Mahatma Gandhi’s popular slogan of ‘do or die’. He appealed to the people of Arunachal Pradesh to participate in the march, “irrespective of political affiliations, community, and religious institutions.”

“This march will be the final mega march to scrap the 80:20 ratio and to make the Scheduled Tribe and permanent residence certificate mandatory. After this march, there will be decisive action,” he said, inviting all political parties, student organisations, and the people of Arunachal to take part in the march.