Chorus of solution, not election picks up tempo in Nagaland

January 6, 2023 34 Views No Comment

Therie demands settlement as committed by BJP

Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 6

The chorus of ‘solution, not election’ continued in Nagaland as Home Minister, Amit Shah’s scheduled date with Nagaland on January 6 got officially confirmed.

Addressing a press conference, today, in Dimapur, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) President, K Therie said that the present political situation in Nagaland demands the deferring of the Assembly elections, imposition of President’s Rule and implementing the anticipated political solution.

“I think this should be the stand of the BJP and the Government of India (GoI),” he said, while stating the people of Nagaland and the political parties in ruling should be realistic and practical.

Given the situation, he held that the ruling UDA government in Nagaland should resign and ask the Home Minister to implement the solution as committed by the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Ram Madhav said, ‘election for solution in 2018,’ and now the next election is coming,” he said, while maintaining that the GoI should not keep “us in suspense anymore.”

According to him, it would be detrimental if elections go ahead on the pretext of the perceived disunity in Nagaland and differing political stands of the NNPGs and the NSCN (IM). He further held that a settlement should be implemented as per the Agreed Position for the Nagas of Nagaland as there cannot be two solutions. For the Nagas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, he said that “it is up to them” if they want to wait.

The 60 legislators are also responsible for the “indecision,” not only with regard to the awaited political solution but also in relation to the Frontier Nagaland state demand. “As far the Congress stand is concerned, we have appealed the ENPO to reconsider their demand… because we are too small to be divided. Secondly, we bought our state with blood, sweat and we suffered, strived together.”

Moreover, he held that Article 371 A would not be replicated in the event Frontier Nagaland state is carved out. While stating that the Article confers political strength to Nagaland, he said, “We want ENPO to reconsider and also we appeal to GoI not to think of dividing Nagaland but address the grievances of the ENPO area.”

While stating that the legislators from eastern Nagaland are also responsible for the development failures in eastern Nagaland, he said that MLAs from the eastern region willingly decided to participate in the formation of Nagaland. On the other hand, he said that they rejected “regional council” in 1972 at a time when Chingwang Konyak, a present member of the UDA, was also a member.

He further accused Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio of collaborating with NSCN (IM) Ato Kilonser, Th Muivah. This, he said, is in the knowledge of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah. He claimed, “I am only using the words of the Union Home Minister, who told Mr Rio, that you are hand in glove with Mr Muivah, why don’t you convince him to settle the political problem.”

He added, “We demanded that all the contiguous Naga inhabited areas should be integrated under one administrative umbrella of Nagaland state. But today they said, interstate boundary shall not be changed under Framework Agreement and today they are going to divide Nagaland into two.”

Source: https://morungexpress.com/chorus-of-solution-not-election-picks-up-tempo-in-nagaland