The recent spate of allegations and claims over the statement made by the chief minister on the issue of integration of Naga areas has become acrimonious, which need to be avoided at such a crucial time. It is a general understanding that the settlement of the Naga issue would be tabled and discussed before the Lok Sabha polls. Otherwise, it will be bad publicity for the NDA and PM Modi. However the current acerbic comments are more like a ramification arising out of the dubious style of reporting in some sections of the media, only to be picked up by the opposition party.
“The desire of the Nagas is for the integration of all Naga contiguous area. But at present the other states outside Nagaland to be a part of Nagaland, it has to be both agreed by the different states, mutually agreed. Therefore though the demand is genuine it is not possible to physically integrate the Naga contiguous area, that a... this discussion was the point,” was what the chief minister had stated to a news channel. What was repeated — a secondary referencing — to the media about the points of discussion from the meeting was instead portrayed to be his words and opinion.
The issue of integration of the contiguous Naga areas in the region is the aspiration of the Naga people for a very long time. This was in black and white as clause -13 of the 16-point Agreement too. During its 54 years of existence, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly had also resolved on five different occasions the integration of all contiguous Naga areas under one administrative head. However, in the past two decades it has instead become the proverbial elephant in the room in all forums. While some new breed of politically correct Nagas continue to shy away from the topic, some have even completely discarded it just so not to hurt the sentiments of the people of the neighbouring states.
The chief minister on the other hand was at least bold enough to relay what was stated to his delegation by the Union Home minister with regard to Naga integration. His activism and support for Naga integration during his political career will go down in history. He condemned the controversial booklet The Bedrock of Naga Society and his resignation from the INC. Later, as the leader of the House the nomenclature of the political party he was associated with earlier was changed from Nagaland People’s Front to Naga People’s Front after a long delay by the EC. It was also during his time as the chief minister from the ruling NPF that he was influential in expanding the NPF to Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
Politics can be dirty but when someone’s integrity is questioned, especially on an issue such as Naga integration, which is the aspiration of the Naga people, then it is crossing the limits. Instead, the chief minister’s statement should be a cue for the many organisations and those political parties who are supposedly the guardians of Naga integration to speak out to the Central government in unison. Why kill the messenger?
