Responding to a statement issued by NCP Nagaland, WC-NNPG said the party and other individuals and organisations “itching” to ink MoU for oil exploration with Assam in Naga areas must answer the people of Nagaland first.
“The whole exercise of granting legitimacy to the Assam government, at one stroke, to co-own and extract oil from Naga areas is a criminal act which is unacceptable,” it read.
It said the Indo-Naga political solution is awaited, and the disputed boundary between Nagaland and Assam will be resolved by a third neutral Central body as per negotiated terms.
“There will be claimants to other Naga oil-bearing areas encouraged by the proposed MoU. The sellout of Naga people's assets for cheap profit devalues our historical right. The deal must be called off,” read the statement.
It asked the party on what legal and historical basis were oil exploration and Naga political issue “separate issues?”
Political and petroleum issues are “woven in a single fabric” and therefore “NCP legislators as politicians themselves must not play ordinary politics of this nature”, it went on to state.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]‘How can natural resources in Naga ancestral soil, for which thousands of Nagas from the time of Britishers, sacrificed their lives for, and continue to do so, be separated from the Naga political discourse? Nagas need not be lectured on oil exploration matter. NCP as partners in the opposition-less government has been forced to stick its neck out to defend the undefendable. WC-NNPG will not sit quiet when the sacrifices of thousands of patriots are ignored,” it said.
It further stated that the GoI representatives had informed the WC-NNPG that the “political leadership of India” was working tirelessly towards an inclusive Indo-Naga political solution.
“Therefore, a Rio or a Himanta inking joint exploration deals for seeking royalties from companies or neighbouring states will not serve the purpose,” it said.
It claimed that WC-NNPG changed the dynamics of political negotiations with the GoI.
Naga tribes were made partners to the talks, details were made accessible to hoho leaders and civil society organisations “as opposed to secrecy and non-disclosure of people's political aspiration”.
“There is real danger in authorising a few men with money to strip Nagaland of all its natural resources,” it said.
“The reality is Ahoms and Nagas will co-exist as they have for centuries. Nagaland will explore and utilise its own God bestowed mineral resources. The current dispensation is a caretaker government in the context of the Indo-Naga issue and as such slogans like employment, revenue and infra developments are language of plunderers.
“Money has silenced upright leaders and practical politics. There are too many puppets on stage parroting their rich masters but there are also many warriors, individually or collectively, standing for our people. God bless the vocal, courageous tribal leaders and Naga intellectuals. Time for the real stakeholders to stand and be counted,” it added.