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Dimapur, Dec. 1 (EMN): The NSCN (IM) and Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) have reacted sharply to Governor RN Ravi’s Statehood Day message.
“His statement reminds the Naga people once again of how under the leadership of Mr. AZ Phizo the war of resistance of the Nagas against the Indian colonialists were manipulated by the IB (Intelligence Bureau) officials,” read a rejoinder from the NSCN (IM).
It stated that the NPC came out of nowhere and signed the 16-Point Agreement. “This was nothing less than a calculated plan of the Indian government and back stabbing the leadership of AZ Phizo and the Naga national movement through NPC; thus, the untold sufferings of the Nagas, loss of lives, properties and dignity have been reduced to nothingness. AZ Phizo and the Naga nationalists and the entire Naga people instantly condemned and rejected NPC and the 16-Point Agreement,” it added.
According to the group, Ravi’s statement “clearly exposed” that another NPC is in the making.
“This is the same RN Ravi who was a signatory to the 2015 ‘framework agreement’ signed between the government of India and the NSCN representing the Naga people and also signed with the 7 NNPG in 2017; and while the government of India and the Naga people are fully committed to resolve the issue through peaceful means which is at its concluding stage, once more the ex-IB official RN Ravi is planning to hijack the more than seven decades of war and 23 years of peace talks in the same style of the NPC,” the statement read.
The group stated that just like India, Nagaland/Nagalim too must have sovereign territory, one constitution and one national flag within, which the two must share sovereign powers and coexist peacefully as two entities as agreed upon in the ‘framework agreement’.
“As the governor of the state of Nagaland, Ravi is advised not to bite off more than he can chew as far as the Indo-Naga Issue is concerned,” it stated, adding that it is undeterred by Ravi’s threat.
In a separate statement, NSF condemned what it stated was “the shallow attempt” by Ravi to mislead the Naga people through his greeting on the eve of 58th Statehood Day.
“Though there is no denying the fact that the creation of Nagaland did reap in monetary dividends for a section of the Naga people besides other tangible and intangible perks, it had only resulted in a more fractious Naga society and governor’s claim that it has been the best thing to happen to the Naga people only reveals his shallow understanding of the Naga history and also the narrow walls within which he has been trying to solve the vexed Indo-Naga political issue,” it stated.
The NSF maintained that the governor’s role should be to find a common ground for all the Naga people spread across four Indian states and two countries, and not instigate further division by “patronising an agreement brought about by declared ‘traitors’ of the Naga cause”.
“The Naga people had out-rightly rejected and disowned the theories forwarded in ‘Bedrock of Naga society’ and any attempt by Governor to legitimise the same through his statement reeks of insensitivity and disregard for the aspirations of the Naga people,” it stated.
According to the NSF, Naga people’s wish for an early conclusion of the peace process should in no way be construed as their willingness to accept anything and everything that is handed over to them.
“Instead, it is merely the desire of the Naga people that the subjugation and oppression by outside forces are brought to an end at the earliest thereby reigning in a new era of peace wherein the dignity of every Naga soul is respected,” it stated, while requesting Ravi to refrain from furthering the old ‘carrot and stick’ policy and adopt a more pragmatic approach.