‘One solution’ to Naga issue not possible under present situation, says Congress

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Feb. 26 (EMN): The president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), K Therie, on Friday stated that ‘one solution’ to Nagas issue is not possible under the present situation and that removal of the incumbent People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government will facilitate early settlement of the protracted Naga political issue.

Therie said this at a press conference held on Friday at his office in Congress Bhavan Kohima. He added that the party discussed several issues threadbare at its ‘extended executive committee meeting’ held earlier in the day.

Stating that the Congress discussed on the ‘framework agreement’, the ‘agreed position’ signed between the GoI and Naga political groups, and the stand of Nagaland Governor RN Ravi, he asked what his statement that “talks have been concluded” meant.

The president said the party had resolved to appeal to GoI and the state to implement the political solution as the governor had said that talks are over. He went on to ask ‘why there is no need talk anymore; why should the solution be kept pending; and why should it be held?’

He also said that the party do not agree to the resolution of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly for ‘one solution’ in view of “integration” being ruled out. “How can they make ‘one solution’ for all the indigenous Naga inhabitants of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, of course Myanmar which is an international issue?’ he asked.

“If Naga-inhabited areas are integrated, then there can be one solution but if we are to live as we have recognised the neighbouring states, then they have to live in Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and they will be under the administration of respective states and not under the Nagaland state. So there have to be a different solution,” he said.

He added that resettlement can be on the same footing ‘but as far as political structure is concerned, it has to be different according to the state’.

Citing the ‘framework agreement’ and ‘agreed position’ signed with various Naga political groups as well as declaration made in 2020 that talked had concluded, Therie asked ‘how many times the GoI will commit and betray the Nagas.

He claimed that ‘the stand of the government and state assembly resolution’ are contradictory as the governor had said that the negotiations had concluded. He went on to say that the state government has become “anti-Nagaland”.

He said Nagaland state has been hosting all the neighbouring Naga brothers and sisters wishing and willing to have one peaceful solution to everyone but maintained that ‘24 years of negotiation is more than enough, a generation has gone; if somebody wants to live on the negotiation that is wrong, we cannot wait for that. If somebody wants to fish from the troubled waters that also we cannot allow because we want clear water’.

He claimed that the present government want to live in troubled waters. “A time has come that Nagas have to come and remove them and then (we) will get the solution. Removal of this government is the only solution and the answer,” he said.

Therie pointed that the government have neither given any tentative date nor any suggestion in its recent four-point assembly resolution. While the Government of India will be happy ‘having nothing to lose’, Nagas will be at the losing end as it cannot move forward without solution and peace, he added.

Reintroduce ballot paper

The Congress party also urged all the political parties and the state government to reintroduce ballot papers in the state assembly and local body elections by passing a law, claiming that the people have lost faith electronic voting machines (EVM).

‘EVMs, according to Right to Information (RTI) were manufactured by two industries, which manufactured more than 38 lakh EVMs while the Election Commission of India (ECI) had maintained that it had received only 19 lakh. Where is the remaining 19 lakh?’ pondered Therie.

Raising doubts on the previous general and state elections, he asserted that the EVMs have been manipulated and that even advanced nations don’t trust it. “Freedom of expression is our right and I want to express my vote through ballot, that is my freedom,” he added.

He also asserted that the country and the ECI should do away with EVM, while saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may not like it, if they depend on the machines for victory.

The NPCC also resolved to urge All India Congress Committee (AICC) to reach out to all states and Union Territories with the mission to save democracy and save India; to urge the state assembly to facilitate loans from banks and other financial institutions by reading Sarfaesi Act 2002 with Nagaland Land and Revenue Regulatory Act 2002; to propose the state government to stand guarantee for entrepreneurs to avail loans until the benefits of Sarfaesi Act 2002 can be availed by entrepreneurs in the state and also to support the farmers’ movement against the three Farm laws and to urge the state government to continue with the implementation of APMCs with MSP for farmers in the state.