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Asserting that the NDPP and BJP will form the next government in Nagaland after the Assembly polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday assured the people that all issues raised by the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) will be addressed after the elections.
Shah was addressing a campaign meeting in Mon town for BJP and NDPP candidates in his first visit to Eastern Nagaland. His visit comes weeks after the ENPO withdrew a longstanding call to boycott the Assembly polls — they are demanding formation of a separate state, Frontier Nagaland, comprising six Eastern Nagaland districts.
After multiple meetings with a Union Home Ministry delegation, ENPO had announced withdrawal of the boycott call on an assurance that a “mutually agreed” solution will be reached after “following due process and will be implemented after completion of the election process”.
The ENPO is demanding a separate state on the grounds that Eastern Nagaland lags behind the rest of the state in development indicators due to administrative and political neglect.
Calling it a legitimate grievance, Shah said: “A few days ago, ENPO had decided to not participate in the election. The reasons for the boycott were legitimate. But (after) we spoke to the ENPO, we have understood their demands and I have assured them that after the election, the NDA government which will be formed under Rio’s (NDPP leader and CM Neiphiu Rio) leadership will solve all your issues — whether related to budgetary provision, giving the council here more rights, or placing equal responsibility on all of Nagaland for development of this region, solutions will be brought by the BJP-NDPP government.”
Stating that the Centre is with the people of Eastern Nagaland, the Home Minister said Rio has also said that he will “support whatever is decided after discussions. So your issues will be solved very soon.”
ENPO president Tsapikiu Sangtam and Konyak Union president Tingthok Konyak shared the stage with Shah on Monday. Konyak Union is the apex organisation of the Konyak tribe of Mon.
Mon is significant also because six miners were killed and two were injured in the district in December 2021 when the Army’s 21 Special Para Force had opened fire, mistaking them for insurgents of the banned National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplan-Yung Aung) group. In clashes that followed between villagers and security personnel, seven more civilians and one paratrooper had died. The incident had led to a strong resurgence of demands to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
The Home Minister did not mention the incident in his address.
Shah asserted that the Narendra Modi government has started a “new era of peace and prosperity” in the Northeast. “In eight years, Modi-ji has reduced insurgency problems across the Northeast by 70% and we have freed 60% of the region from AFSPA.” he said, adding that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was withdrawn in areas under jurisdiction of 15 police stations in seven districts of Nagaland.
At the rally, Chief Minister Rio said the BJP-led Centre has been working to resolve the Naga political problem.
“You have stood by the Nagas and for a very long time you have dedicated your time to resolve Naga political issue, in which the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and you (Shah) have taken a keen interest and drawn the framework agreement with the IM and the Agreed Position with the NNPG group,” he said. “With you continuing in office, we hope the Naga issue will be resolved in near future.”
