NGBF reminds PM Modi of 2017 commitment, seeks implementation of Naga agreement

DIMAPUR — The Nagaland Gaon Bura Federation (NGBF) on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to act on the commitment made to the federation in 2017 and execute the “Naga agreement” with the negotiators before the new year of 2024.

In the representation to the prime minister, copies of which issued to the media, the NGBF noted that four years have passed since the “official conclusion of the political talks with all Naga groups.”

 “Naga populace awaits the negotiated points to be implemented and to push Nagaland among the frontline of the developed states of India by 2047,” the federation said, referring to the prime minister’s clarion call to transform India to a developed nation by 2047 – the 100th year of independence.

With the government preparing to develop India, “the Naga question has to be solved through vision oriented political process,” the NGBF asserted, urging the prime minister to act on his commitment.

“… We, as representatives of Nagas at a grassroots level in towns and villages would urge your good self to ensure that the Naga Agreement is signed implemented in Nagaland at the earliest for an enduring peaceful future in the NE,” it added.

According to the federation, based on the assurance of the Prime Minister given to NGBF on Aug. 3, 2017, “all the Naga revolutionary groups came together under the umbrella of Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) and its working Committee (WC) was invited for negotiations in Sep. 2017.”

The WC-NNPG then conducted formal talks with the Government of India (Gol) interlocutor RN Ravi for two years, having first entered into an Agreed Position on the mechanism, process and nature of peace talks.

“The Naga peace talks with the NNPG was therefore, in the official format called the Agreed Position, was between the Government of India and the constituent federal Naga entities under the banner WC-NNPG, and was not on behalf of a single political entity or organisation. This initiative had the fullest support, co-operation and solidarity extended by all Nagaland tribes, apex civil societies and the churches,” the NGBF maintained.

It went on to state that WC-NNPG “took all Nagas and even neighbouring communities into confidence,” exhibiting and rekindling Naga traditional democracy in its purest form. The negotiations concluded on Oct. 31, 2019, “agreeing on whatsoever possible in the contemporary political situation, meticulously worked out in the shortest possible time, deliberating on all aspects of the Naga problem,” it stated.

In the given scenario, the NGBF appealed to the prime minister “to respect and honour the words given to the elderly Naga customary guardians in the form of NGBF on Aug. 3, 2017, and urged the Government of India to execute the Naga agreement with the negotiators before the new year begins.