Eyeing eastern Nagaland votes, BJP announces a special package, development board

At the manifesto launch ceremony, Nadda said, “We will establish Eastern Nagaland Development Board for holistic development of the region. We will provide a special package for the development of Eastern Nagaland and work towards provisioning the budget in proportion to the population… we will provide free rice and wheat monthly, 5 kg of black chickpeas and one litre of mustard oil per family quarterly at subsidised rate.”

The six districts of Eastern Nagaland account for 20 of the 60 seats in the state Assembly and make up for more than 30% of the state’s population. A region with aspirations of a separate state is considerably less developed than other parts of the state. Eastern Nagaland comprises six districts — Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Noklak and Shamator — which are inhabited mainly by seven tribes of Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Tikhir and Yimkhiung.

In pursuit of a separate state comprising the six districts, the influential Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) had announced a boycott of the 2023 Assembly elections, but the call was withdrawn earlier this month after meetings with a delegation from the Union Home ministry. ENPO office-bearers had stated that the decision was taken based on Centre’s assurance that “a mutually agreed solution will be implemented after completion of the election process”.

“The talks with the Eastern Nagaland people are ongoing with Home Minister Amit Shah ji… whatever commitment the Home Minister has made to the people, we will fulfil it,” he added.

Other key promises in the manifesto include setting up a Nagaland Cultural Research Fund of Rs 1,000 crore; introduction of a Nagaland tourism skill mission to provide training and employment opportunities to 50,000 local youth; and 100% direct benefit transfer coverage for all government schemes. He also announced different women-centric schemes — a bond of Rs 50,000 on the birth of a girl child for weaker sections; free education to all female students from KG to university level; encouraging women self-help groups and credit linkages.

“Here you had the Congress party for a long time. But now it’s nowhere to be seen. Why did it happen? Because the national party could not understand the regional aspirations. In West Bengal… how did the TMC come… In UP, apart from BJP you don’t have any national party…,” he said in his address while launching the NDPP-BJP joint campaign.

He said that till five years ago, Nagaland was known for insurgency and disruptions. “Till five years back, Nagaland was known for what? Bandh, blockade, insurgency, abduction and targeted killing… under the dynamic leadership of Neiphiu Rio ji, we were able to have a stable government here and we can say that Nagaland is today a place of peace, prosperity and development. And that has taken place during his leadership.”

Nadda said, “A lot of efforts have been done, PM Modi has done a lot of effort for resolving the Naga issue… Amit Shah too has worked tirelessly. We have tried our level best, it has come to the final stage.”