Locking horns over two divergent points : The central issue in 4 States
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 07 , 2014 -

The political parties may have over done it.

But the fact of the matter is the territorial integrity of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh versus a settlement of the Indo-Naga issue, which should be read as integrating all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit is central to all the elections held in the States of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, since 2002.

The manner in which the Congress and the NPF have been going hammer and tongs against each other, especially in the Outer Parliamentary seat plus the decision of Mr Nephiu Rio to move to National politics are pointers to this fact.

The NPF or rather the political parties under Democratic Alliance of Nagaland are under the impression that if the BJP led NDA comes to power at the Centre after the Parliamentary election then the Naga issue would receive a boost, a favourable boost.

And as a partner of the NDA, the tactical move of Mr Rio to contest the Lok Sabha election from Nagaland must be clear to all the keen political observers of the region or the four States.

From the manner in which Mr Rio campaigned in the hill districts of Manipur, it should be clear that the NPF sees the Congress as the principal opposition party to their stated objective of bringing all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit.

This is not surprising since the Congress has won three consecutive Assembly elections in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and it has been in a position to take a vocal stand against any design to compromise with the boundary of their respective States.

By moving onto a larger political platform, read Lok Sabha, Mr Rio is banking on making a place for himself from where he can exert more pressure on the Centre to expedite the ongoing Indo-Naga peace talk and bring about a solution in their favour, which is against the stand of the Governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

How far he can push the BJP led NDA, if it comes to power after the general election, remains in the realm of speculation but it should be clear that there is a design, a well thought out design to leave State politics and move on to a bigger canvass.

Despite the Bangkok Declaration of June 14, 2001 and acknowledging the ‘Unique history of the Nagas’, what should not be forgotten is the tactically powerful political statement delivered by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at Kohima that the consensus of all the neighbouring States is needed to resolve the Naga issue.

The question now is where a meeting point can be reached between the aspirations of Naga Integration and protecting the territorial integrity of the States of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh ?

All the political parties contesting the election in Manipur have inserted the clause, ‘protecting the integrity of the State’ in their election manifestoes.

The BJP has done it and so have others and to be sure the Congress too will do it.

There will be no easy answer at the moment, but the compulsion to tread cautiously need not be over emphasised here, for there is the universally accepted credo that my rights stops where the rights of the other begins.

Surely interesting but if not treated sensitively, then the issue at hand has all the possibility of taking an ugly turn. The detention of a former Minister from Chingai AC, some days back, on the ground that he was actively working for the BJP should be enough indication.