Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday called upon the people of the state to stop playing endless politics and instead concentrate on the development of the state.
“I have seen that people, especially of the Abotani belt, take politics very seriously and view life and development only from a political angle. Taking politics very seriously in every sphere of life hampers the developmental process,” Khandu said, appealing to the people to indulge in politics only once in five years.
The chief minister asserted that every five years people have the chance to elect whomever they want, therefore there is no point playing politics throughout those five years.
“If people want they will bring back my government based on our performance but if they do not want us they will elect someone else. So why keep politics on our mind all the time and instead concentrate on development of the state?” he said.
Khandu further stressed that politics should be based on performance and not on money culture.
He was speaking at the dedication ceremony of the newly established Tribal Cultural Center at Mwya village in Deed circle of Lower Subansiri district.
Expressing belief that the cultural center would pave the way for preservation of the indigenous identity of the people of the area, the chief minister reiterated that preservation of cultural identity of the indigenous tribes of the state is of utmost importance.
He said most of the developed countries of the world were inhabited by indigenous communities at the beginning, which disappeared over the years owing to rapid globalization.
“We are lucky to still be rooted to our cultural identity. But unless we practice and pass on our heritage to our next generation, our indigenous identities too would wane away slowly,” he observed.
Khandu advocated that no matter which religious faith they believe in, indigenous people of the state should preserve their cultural identity passed down by their ancestors.
And to do it, he said indigenous languages should be widely spoken and indigenous festivals should be celebrated with the same traditional fervor.
The chief minister informed that taking cognizance of the threat to indigenous communities across the world; he conceptualized the Department of Indigenous Affairs in 2017 so that the government could support preservation of cultural identities of the 26 major tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes of the state.
“India is a secular state…all faiths and religions are equal. Arunachal Pradesh is a unique state in terms of indigenous practices as ours is a 100 percent tribal state. Our cultural uniqueness is our identity. We have witnessed globally the disappearance of indigenous culture therefore it is up to us – the indigenous communities – to think about ourselves,” Khandu said.
He called for ‘brainstorming’ at community levels on why people are moving away from their indigenous faiths but without putting the blame on anyone.
Among others, home minister Bamang Felix, education minister and local legislator Taba Tedir, MLAs Zignu Namchoom and B R Wahge, Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP) president KatungWahge, Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum (AITF) president Bengia Tolum and officials and public leaders of the area were present on the occasion. CMCC
