E.P. – Without experience, training or help from government, how can they start industry?

B.B. Lyngdoh – Why do you depend on government? Who is the government? What are they? They are people who are employed and draw salary every month. They draw salary whether they work or not. They take salary even after they die. Government is the people who draw salary without work. So, how can you depend on government? Least government is the best government.

1993

“Art is a never ending process”

- Prithpal S. Sehdave Ladi

E.P. – Please give us a short resume from where you began upto what you have achieved so far in your career.

Prithpal S. Sehdave Ladi – First of all let me put art the way I see art. It is a process and there is no coming up or a degree you have achieved. Art is a process which never ends. It is not that one has got the degree/diploma and it ends, no it is not so and there is no break to it, it goes on till the person is dead.

I worked very hard during the academic years. I topped my results. At this point it does not really matter much to me, but at that point it did because there was a sort of competition. So when I came out with flying colors I really felt good, I finished with 1st class, got distinction and got some university award, well, that made me feel good but then my real test lay

outside the academic setup, that’s where I had to prove myself. So then I honestly started working and I would say I was lucky to get a very good response because as I passed out a few of my works were selected for a national award which came to me at a very young age in 1981. Normally a person goes grey by the time an award is conferred on him.

Soon after that I was given the fellowship to Paris by the French Government. I went to Paris and was there for about a year and a half since 1982. So it was very interesting for me because Paris again is the Mecca of arts. Well, there was the whole world to see the works of all masters so that exposure was also equally important and it worked out very well for me. But then I didn’t want to stay back there, I wanted to come back in my own land as my roots lay here.

E. P. – We don’t know if your parents liked the idea of your discarding the usual line of education and studying art. Who or what were the inspirations behind becoming a sculptor?

Prithpal S. Sehdave Ladi – Well I do agree with you that art is the least understood area amongst a majority of the people. For them it’s a refined notion. Art is a refinement of the soul. Its all very good while someone else is doing it; but the moment your child wants to pursue art as a career its very shocking, I agree. But incidentally my father was very encouraging. So I didn’t have that usual problem which probably a lot of people had when they want to get into an art school.

Considering the system in our country, we are economically backward. Even for survival we have to earn; but personally I didn’t have this problem. But slowly, I had to prove that I was excelling in whatever I was doing. That was a sort of compensation and also making them feel relaxed, you know, regarding my future.

1994

“Not a single Chakma will be accepted in Arunachal”

- Takam Sanjoy

E.P. - According to the Union Minister for Home, Mr. P.M. Sayeed, Chakma, Hajong & Tibetan refugees in the state who came to India prior to march 25, 1971 could be considered for citizenship under Indira- Mujib Agreement of 1972. Do you agree with the fact that 1971 could be considered as the cut-off year for Indian citizenship for these foreigners?

Mr. Takam Sanjoy, (President, All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union) – Not at all; as far as Arunachal Pradesh is concerned, the Assam Accord of 1986 has got no meaning to us. 1971 is the cut – off year to detect foreigners in Assam. However, this can not be applicable to the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Now, when we talk about the Mujibur-Indira Accord, I am very convinced that the Union Government has not taken the consent of the State Government when such an agreement was to take place. These agreements seem to be totally arbitrary, neglecting the aspirations of the people. Now, during that time, prior to 1977-78, we had no elected government. We had Councilors, nominated by the either the Lieutenant Governor or Commissioner to Assam. So, that way they were elected and nominated and so, we are convinced that the pact between India and Bangladesh is not applicable, whatsoever it may be because we are going to question it, if necessary, even in the apex Court of the country.

E.P.- According to press reports, there was, an agreement, allowing the Chakmas and Hajongs, who migrated way back in 1964 (after they fled the Chittagong Hill Tracks following the persecution by majority Muslims) to stay in the state for a period of 20 years. How much of it is accepted and now that it is over 30 years, what do you feel is an amicable solution that shall satisfy both the peace-loving people of Arunachal Pradesh as also the so-called refugees in the states without hampering peace in the neighboring state?

Mr. Sanjoy- You see, the Chakmas were allowed to settle in the then NEFA in 1964. If we go back through history, 1964 was a period when it was totally under the External Affairs Ministry. We did not even have Councilors as we had in 1971-72, before the constitution of the present Assembly. Now, there was a Commissioner to the then NEFA, a direct representative of the Governor of the then Assam. So when it was entirely under the External Affairs Ministry’s control, it was not within the Union Home Ministry. I am very frank that Arunachal that time was never an exclusive part of India. It was an excluded area. So, as alleged by some of the Union Ministers, that the then NEFA administration was consulted, how can Mr. P. N. Luthra (Adviser to the Governor of Assam for NEFA) speak on our behalf when we did not have a popular government for ourselves? We were not even totally under the control of Assam. We had our own separate Commissioner, who was looking after the affairs of NEFA. Even that began from the British times. No practical administration was there; nobody could come to the then NEFA, either on foot or by helicopters.

So, any agreement reached with the Government of India to settle the foreigners in Arunachal Pradesh can not be accepted as an acceptance in consultation with the people of Arunachal Pradesh. It’s very clear. And so, we can not treat the Chakmas to having settled through certain agreement involving the people of Arunachal Pradesh. So they were arbitrarily put, and in the later stage, when we came to accept, (I put it voluntarily and involuntarily) the Indian Constitution, we agreed. We respect their values. We have given them shelter for 20 years as said. But remember, we have kept them for 30 years, 1964 to 1994, three decades exactly.

So now, there is no option. If the Government of India at all feels like considering their citizenship as being contemplated, we would like to see that not even a single Chakma or any other foreigner will be accepted into our state.  

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