Itanagar:
Barely a week after taking oath as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, 37-year-old Pema Khandu faces his first political challenge from anti-dam protesters in his hometown, Tawang.
On Friday, hundreds of protesters gathered at Tawang to demand government jobs for the families of those who were killed in a police firing on May 2 this year.
Two people were killed and 18 others were injured in May when a protest turned violent after the arrest of anti-dam activist Lama Lobsung Gyatso.
The administration had arrested Gyatso for "hurting" the sentiments of the local people by questioning the nationality of the spiritual head of the Tawang monastery, one of the most sacred monasteries for Buddhists in India.
But his supporters alleged that Gyatso was targeted for opposing the Hydel power projects in the region under the banner of Save Mon Region Forum or SMRF.
Tawang and West Kameng are part of the ecologically fragile Mon region of Arunachal Pradesh that had been opened up for 13 hydel power projects in the past few years by the state government. "Ever since the hydel projects started in 2007, people are agitated,"says Lobsung Chhoedup, secretary, Save Mon Region Forum.
Now, the protesters want the Pema Khandu government to order a CBI inquiry over the police firing.
And the protesters have got support from the BJP who wants to make it tough for Khandu in his hometown of Tawang.
The BJP is still smarting from Khandu's U-turn, who after being part of a BJP-propped government in Arunachal, returned to the Congress fold last week.
"BJP always supports any cause that is attached with public sentiments. We have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the past," says Lham Dorjee, BJP spokesperson.