Demand for separate state: Nagaland govt says ‘ready’ to respond to Centre’s proposal on greater autonomy

No voting took place in the six Eastern Nagaland districts for the Lok Sabha polls in April this year following the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization’s call to “call to abstain” from the ballot. There have been several meetings between the ENPO and the Union Home Ministry since last year, including a tripartite discussion with representatives of the Nagaland government.

According to sources who have been part of these meetings, discussions have been veering towards a “unique arrangement” called ‘Frontier Naga Territory’ (FNT) within the state of Nagaland with a separate legislature, and executive and financial powers.

The Centre had sent a draft Memorandum of Settlement to the state government for its comment but there had been no progress since, prompting the election boycott call.

Speaking about the recent deliberations, Nagaland Parliamentary Affairs Minister K.G. Kenye said talks had been stalled after the government had sought consultations with the ENPO and the Eastern Nagaland Legislators’ Union – which comprises the 20 MLAs from the region. But discussions took place in the last few weeks following which the government is ready to forward its case to the Centre, he said.

According to him, the arrangement will be within the provisions of the Article 371A of the Constitution, which contains special provisions for Nagaland. This includes the provision of a ‘regional council’ for the then Tuensang district – later was divided into the six districts.

“They have been very clear right from the start that they will not be outside the state of Nagaland and the provisions of Nagaland’s 371(A)… There is no reason for us to delay and keep this matter pending. Whatever we have discussed in our cabinet meeting this week, we go back to ENLU and ENPO, and we have a commission handling the issue which will add the final touches,” said Kenya.

Government spokesperson C.L. John explained the proposed division of powers, saying that the government will still be centralised in Kohima.

“Some modality will come up. In environment and forests, the state will look at the district level and FNT will look after community reserve areas and community conserved areas at the rural level. Similarly, the National Highways and state highways will be taken up by PWD and the local and rural roads by FNT council,” he said.