Nagaland Congress slams ‘vague’ reference to Northeast in President’s address

DIMAPUR — The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has expressed strong disappointment over what it termed as a “vague, generic and oblique” reference to peace in the Northeast in President Droupadi Murmu’s recent address to Parliament.

It said the address demonstrated that the “government of the day is either callous to the problems of the region, or does not comprehend the complexities and peculiarities of the different states”.

In a statement on Friday, the party pointed out that the ongoing crisis in Manipur has displaced more than 60,000 people, “yet the government does not deem it fit to be mentioned in the Presidential address”.

The NPCC criticised what it perceived as a dismissive attitude from the ruling government towards the situation in Manipur, citing an incident in the Lok Sabha where an attempt made by a Manipur MP to raise concerns was allegedly deflected by a member of the ruling party who declared that Mary Kom — a sportsperson from Manipur — was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, “as though that act alone was more than enough to absolve the central government to remain a mute spectator to the whole unfortunate turn of events in Manipur”.

It went on to say that when representatives of the people demand the issue of Manipur be discussed in the temple of democracy, the treasury bench went tangent, highlighting the development of sporting facilities and nomination of a sportsperson to the Rajya Sabha, instead of addressing pressing issues.

The Congress also pointed out that highlighting the military service of one’s relatives in the Northeast may be perceived positively on a national level, but at the grassroots, it “could hurt the sentiments of hundreds and thousands of local denizens who have in one way or the other suffered from misuse and abuse of the infamous Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act”.

“The Act is archaic and needs to be re-visited to give it a humane face,” it added.

On Naga political issue

Further, the NPCC stated that the “total silence” on the Naga political issue in the presidential address speaks volumes about the NDA government’s concern for the Naga people.

It said that soon after the Framework Agreement was signed on August 3, 2015 between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM), Prime Minister Modi “proudly declared to the world, in Dubai, that he had solved the Naga political problem”.

However, in reality, the problem is far from been solved and multiple factions of the Naga political groups have mushroomed over the years.

Subsequently, the Centre went on to sign the Agreed Position with the Working Committee of Naga National Political Groups on November 17, 2017.

The NPCC said that at present, there are 24 factions, and the people continue to reel under the burden of illegal extortion by these factions.

“In the face of inactivity by the state government as well as the central government, the Naga people continue to live in an era reminiscent of lawlessness: The Ceasefire Monitoring mechanism put in place by the government of India is there just for namesake and the people, especially the business community has had to take the matter in its own hands and resort to lightning closure of business establishments causing immense hardship to the general populace,” it said.

Additionally, in late 2019, the then-Governor of Nagaland and Centre’s interlocutor, RN Ravi, had set an October 31 deadline for negotiations. At the time, he stated that all necessary arrangements were in place to sign an accord aimed at achieving a lasting solution to the Naga political issue. However, no such accord has been reached and details of a concrete solution remain unknown, said the party.

“What then, is the lasting peace that the government of India is talking about when the Naga issue and problem has long spilled over to the neighbouring states as well as to Myanmar? How can there be lasting peace when the Naga political problem is as fresh and as lethal as it was decades back?” it asked.

The NPCC also called on the NDA government to take concrete action to demonstrate its commitment to the Northeast region and show that the region is very much part and parcel of the Indian Union and the union government cares for all sections of the country, irrespective of race or geographical location.