Covid delayed Naga talks : Rebel leader Kitovi

Nirendra Dev *

Amid strong indications that the Narendra Modi government has seemingly changed its policy approach towards Nagaland and the Naga peace parleys - albeit in a gradual mode - senior rebel leader N Kitovi Zhimomi said, "Covid 2019 delayed Naga talks and it was not the Modi Government".

"I am not taking sides... There are multiple factors responsible for delay in finalisation of Naga peace talks. Nagas are also responsible. But it will be impractical proposition to take a stance that only the government in Delhi was responsible for the delay," Kitovi told 'Nagaland Page' in a telephonic conversation.

"See, we finalised the talks by Oct 2019... there came a few other hurdles. We could have handled those immediately but shortly thereafter came the pandemic Covid. Doors were shut and people were confined indoors and it was the question of life and death," he said.

Answering questions Kitovi declined to comment on whether the Nagaland government headed by Neiphiu Rio and the state legislators were also somehow responsible and said, "to some questions one can never reply by mere Yes or No".

However, he hastened to add, "New Delhi also delayed things as I understand. But I also understand that they had political compulsion. The BJP is a political party and by 2021 and 2022 there were assembly elections in Assam and Manipur.... Then slowly we had assembly elections in Nagaland and two other states in the north east".

"The year 2023 also heralded the national mood for elections for Lok Sabha.... I understand the political compulsion of the BJP leadership.... But that's not the excuse either. The challenges ought to be dealt with. Now the top priority is Solution and I believe since June 2024, things are changing for good".

"We may be on a faster track towards Solution, Peace and Development," he added.

Interestingly Kitovi, who floated his own armed group earlier this year, made the remarks on the drop of some internal squabbling in the NNPG and also developments such as CBI getting more active in corruption cases related to Nagaland.

There is a feeling that the BJP central leadership is not happy with Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and also the NDPP-BJP alliance as the arch rival Congress could walk away with the lone Lok Sabha seat.

The issues like Naga Flag and Constitution were raised and the Union Home Minister in 2023 repeatedly urged the Rio government and MLAs to pursue all factions to agree for an early signing of the Naga peace pact.

Contrary to the general impression and argument put forward by political stakeholders, BJP's Guwahati meet recently rejected the contention that the perceived 'Christian' angle was responsible for NDA's defeat in Lok Sabha polls in Nagaland.

The issue figured more than once during the two-meet and when Naga BJP leaders tried to put forward the argument that the Hindutva issue and the 'Christian angle' resulted in the defeat of NDPP nominee, the central leaders snubbed the state leaders.

Among others, BJP general secretary Organisation B L Santhosh attended the meeting. Sources also said among the states; the performance and battle-readiness works of the Tripura unit was appreciated. Leaders raised issues like "giving importance" to former Congress leaders and neo-BJP turncoats.

However, the high command said there was no merit or no necessity to raise these issues or matters like some individual leaders need to be rewarded and so on. The party admitted that losing all five seats - one in Nagaland and two each in Meghalaya and Manipur - showed that there were organisational failures. But there could be different reasons for the defeats.

Each factor has to be properly identified and objectively analysed, it was suggested. The central BJP leaders say if the 'Christian angle' caused victory for an underdog Congress candidate S Supongmeren Jamir; the same reasons should have prevailed during ULB elections - which both the NDPP and BJP could win successfully.