Ravi undoing works of predecessors on Naga political issue, says NSF

Dimapur, June 30 (EMN): The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has denounced what it stated was the display of disrespectful attitude by Governor RN Ravi, who is also the Centre’s interlocutor for Indo-Naga talks, towards Naga political groups.

“The usage of the terminologies like ‘gangsters’, ‘extortionists’ etc., by the GOI-appointed interlocutor only seeks to undo whatever has been achieved through the blood, sweat and tears of his predecessors,” read a statement from the NSF on Tuesday.

It stated that the Indo-Naga talks have seen three statesmen as interlocutors appointed by the government of India before Ravi took the role.

Referring to the governor’s recent letter to the chief minister, the NSF stated that it had portrayed the “torchbearers of the Naga movement in bad light”, which ‘reveals the arrogant attitude and insincere approach of the government of India and its unwillingness to settle the issue’.

“It also reeks of an attempt by the appointed symbolic head of the state to overthrow and overpower a democratically elected government,” read the statement.

The federation asserted that it would not remain “blind and mute to attempts by individuals to belittle and disregard our internationally recognised movement”.

“The federation has lost all hopes in an honourable and acceptable solution to the vexed Naga issue for as long as someone with such minimal understanding of the issue and disrespectful attitude is at helm from the Indian side. The federation shall not shy away from openly stating that RN Ravi himself has been responsible for the many hiccups in the peace-process in his attempts to earn some personal brownie points.

“The federation, hereby, demands RN Ravi to come out in the open and tell the Naga public as to whom he is referring to as ‘gangsters’ and ‘extortionists’ in his letter to the chief minister and if it as such then, it is a matter of shame that, the mighty India has appointed retired top-cop to sit down on the same negotiating table with gangsters and extortionists,” it stated.

The NSF reminded the governor that the government of India has officially recognised the Naga issue as a political issue and “his every single attempt to downgrade it to a state law and order problem will prove futile”.

‘It is time that he takes his role as an Interlocutor seriously or call it quits altogether for even with or without him, the aspiration of the Naga people shall continue to thrive,’ it stated.