Source: The Sangai Express / PTI
Shillong, February 24:
Amid sharp reactions in Manipur over some controversial texts about 'Naga integration' in the Congress' manifesto for the Nagaland elections, the AICC today said there would be no changes in it.
�We cannot contest the expressions of the State units.
They have their own identity and their acts are in line with the feelings of the people of the State,� AICC general secretary and party in-charge of Nagaland, Margaret Alva, told reporters here.
The Manipur Congress had urged the AICC to erase the controversial bit about �Naga integration� from the document.
A resolution was also moved in the Assembly in this regard and was unanimously adopted by the House.
�This House resolves to disapprove the reported statement made by Siddarth Patil, AICC secretary and demands the AICC to cause manifesto which reads as follows: The Indian National Congress in Nagaland will continue to urge upon the Government of India the need to implement the 16-point agreement of 1970 in letter and spirit,� the resolution adopted in Manipur Assembly on February 21 stated.
The 16-point Statehood agreement includes a controversial clause on the integration of all contiguous Naga-inhabited areas.
Clause 13 of the agreement states that all contiguous Naga-inhabited areas, which reportedly includes parts of Manipur and Assam, will be under a single administration.
Patil had reiterated that the Congress was committed to implementing the 16-point statehood agreement, including the clause on integration, �in letter and spirit�.
Despite the protest lodged with AICC president Sonia Gandhi and AICC's Manipur in-charge Prithviraj Chauhan, Alva, who is also the member of the AICC manifesto committee, said, �The clause in manifesto is on the basis of the agreement made by the Government of India with Naga leaders in 1970.The mention of the agreement's clauses in the manifesto means that the Nagaland Congress would see that these clauses would be in focus during the peace negotiations�.
When asked about the protest by its Manipur Government and the Congress unit there, she said, �There has to be a compromise.
One State cannot meddle with the affairs of another State.
Nagaland Congress knows best what its people want,� she said, adding that the Nagaland manifesto was not that of the AICC.
�Every one is clamouring for space and they have their own issues,� Alva said, hoping that the Naga peace process would give results in lines with the Assam Accord and Mizoram Accord.




