[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]oung union minister Kiren Rijiju is a new entrant when comes to explaining things about the Naga peace talks. We would like to advise him to find out from the old newspapers what his predecessors and other union ministers/Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials had described intensively and extensively on the Naga peace talks. His words could not find markets when he said on Saturday that ‘with the appointment of Central government’s new interlocutor RN Ravi (who is also the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee), the peace talks with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) is going on in a positive direction.’
It is to all concerned parties including the Government of India that the art of persuasive speaking on the Naga peace talks is over.The time to display positivity before the public is also over. It is too late now to impress the people. We have no time for showy people. We have had enough of them in these last seventeen years of peace talks between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM. Perhaps, it should rather be a show-time by now. Things such as ‘the talk is in the right direction’ or ‘the talk between the two parties was cordial and encouraging’ or ‘the peace talk is in crucial stage’ sound monotonous to the public. These stereotype terms and expressions have no buyers today. The Naga public just wants to see the practical. They will only believe when the settlement is made. Knowing this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not utter a word on the issue.There was a time the people would be submerged in intense talks with excitement every time the officials or Naga leaders described about the talks with full of rhetorical elements. But seventeen years down the line the Naga people are tired of this tedious repetition. The Nagas are not going to be attracted by these routine comments anymore.
