Kohima, April 11 : The Congress and the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) have intensified their campaign to woo voters with “Naga integration” topping the agenda.
The highly-controversial booklet Bedrock of Naga Society published in June 2001 by the PCC but later disowned by the party except its author S.C. Jamir, a former chief minister, still continues to haunt the party leaders.
PCC president K.V. Pusa, Congress Legislature Party leader Chingwang Konyak and former chief minister and PCC election convenor K.L. Chishi have categorically stated that the booklet is a closed chapter and not relevant in the present context.
They criticised the DAN for raking up the “non-issue”.
According to the booklet, the Nagas have compromised on their demand for sovereignty by accepting statehood in 1960.
Nagaland became the 16th state under the Union of India through a 16-Point Agreement of 1960, where the clause 13 of the agreement states about integration of all contiguous Naga-inhabited areas.
But this has never been implemented by the Centre till date. The booklet also generated widespread protests from the length and breadth of the Naga-inhabited areas in 2001.
On September 30, 2004, then CLP leader and Jamir’s trusted man, I. Imkong Ao, disowned the booklet in the Naga integration rally at the Kohima local ground.
Chief minister Neiphiu Rio and DAN try to score a political point saying that for the Congress, the Naga political problem was settled with Nagaland attaining statehood.
The Congress leaders, however, say they will continue to work for an acceptable and honourable solution to the Naga political problem.
The party said integration of the Naga-inhabited areas is a must to take forward the Naga peace process. “We are for Naga integration,” the vice-president (administration) of the PCC, Zachillu Vadeo, said. He slammed the DAN for what he termed “unnecessarily making a mountain out of a molehill”.
Cutting across party lines, the Nagaland Assembly had unanimously passed four resolutions for Naga integration. The controversial booklet was released when Rio was the home minister.
“So far as the PCC is concerned, we stand for Naga integration into one administrative unit,” Nillo Rengma, another vice-president of the PCC, said. The party would stand for honourable and acceptable settlement for all sections of Naga people, he said.
He urged the Centre to expedite the Naga talks.
Rengma said during every election the DAN and the Nagaland People’s Front, a major constituent of the alliance, became the champion of the Naga cause.
He castigated the DAN government for proposing an “interim solution” to the Naga problem.
Rio, however, blamed the Congress for standing in the way of the Naga peace process. Pusa has denied the allegations. “The booklet is a closed chapter,” he said.
Nagaland will go to the polls on April 16 where byelections to four Assembly seats will be held simultaneously.
As part of its effort for Naga integration, the NPF said the party would spread its wings across all the Naga-inhabited areas. Its president, Shurhozelie Liezietsu, said efforts were being made to expand the NPF to other Naga-inhabited states like Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The DAN is supporting the People’s Democratic Alliance of Manipur, a conglomeration of Naga MLAs in Manipur.
Mani Charenamei, a Naga, is contesting as an Independent candidate from the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat. Recently, the Naga MLAs led by Charenamei met the leaders of the NPF and the DAN in Kohima and sought their support.
