• Says it could reopen Naga political question
• Solution can reassure ‘other India’
Dimapur, September 3 (MExN): The Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (WC, NNPGs) has cautioned that any temporary, permanent or complete suspension of Article 371(A) could reopen the Naga political question, while asserting that negotiations with the Government of India (GoI) have “successfully concluded” and are awaiting an official announcement.
In a statement issued through its Media Cell, the WC, NNPGs said the political negotiations held between 2017 and 2019, including those involving former GoI Interlocutor and present West Bengal Governor RN Ravi, had focused on finding an “inclusive” political arrangement recognising the respective historical and political positions of India and the Nagas.
It said the Nagas had brought their “own history, identity, culture and ancestral land” to the negotiations and maintained that only through a political solution based on mutual recognition could the GoI and the Nagas coexist with mutual respect.
“Fulfilling this criteria, the GoI Interlocutor and the Naga representatives agreed, in principle, to find a political solution, invoking, entrenching and adding clauses in the relevant instruments of the Indian Constitution under federal structure as two entities,” it added.
The negotiations have “successfully concluded”, pending announcement by the GoI, it asserted.
The WC, NNPGs claimed that the process had also addressed discrepancies between the constitutional framework and its implementation on the ground, particularly concerning Article 371(A).
Accordingly, it maintained that political agreements reached between the GoI and Naga representatives, both historically and in recent years, must be respected and implemented.
It cited the Framework Agreement signed between the GoI and NSCN (IM) on August 3, 2015, and the Agreed Position signed with the WC, NNPGs on November 17, 2017, asserting that these agreements represented political commitments that should not be undermined.
Meanwhile, the statement described Article 371(A) as “the only link between the union of India and the Naga people” and cautioned that any move to temporarily or permanently suspend or completely remove the special constitutional provision would, in its view, place Nagaland and the Nagas in a pre-statehood position.
In such a situation, it said the Nagas would have the “absolute right” to invoke the spirit of January 10, 1929, August 14, 1947 and May 16, 1951.
The WC, NNPGs also cautioned against what it described as attempts to undermine the Agreed Position and Status Paper through “petty MOUs”, particularly in relation to natural resources.
It said the GoI and WC, NNPGs had agreed in principle on a framework for the utilisation of natural resources, including resources above and below the ground, strategic minerals and rare earths. It asserted that natural resource exploration and extraction should be left for “post-solution Naga generations”.
The group further stated that it would oppose any force seeking to undermine the Agreed Position and Status Paper and urged the GoI to stop political actors from acting contrary to its “spirit and principles”.
Turning to the implementation of the Naga political process, the statement said the accumulated historical injustice faced by the Naga people would be “too much to bear” if the political agreements failed to materialise.
It suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah may not be receiving an accurate picture of grassroots sentiment, alleging that the State Government, bureaucracy and security agencies had “fiddled for too long” while allowing “anti-solution elements” to flourish.
The WC, NNPGs also broadened its appeal to the wider question of India’s political identity, invoking the ideas associated with Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose and BR Ambedkar.
It argued that the “Idea of India” envisioned by the country’s founding generation was based on an inclusive and secular India, and said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be “sensible to the idea of India”.
The calls for a “Hindu Rashtra” should not go against what it described as the spirit of the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution.
“India is like a garden with many varieties of flowers,” the statement said, arguing that people belonging to different faiths, cultures, beliefs and social practices from across India were equally Indian.
It further said that it would be unwise for any religious group to consider itself “more Indian than others”, asserting that “two Indias cannot exist in one”.
The WC, NNPGs then linked this broader argument to the Naga political settlement, stating that the political leadership of India, particularly the ruling party, mostly owed its political orientation to RSS ideology.
It said the GoI must convince the “other India” to coexist with India by recognising its history and identity, “not in words or endless parleys but through negotiated political agreements and implementations of the same”.
The WC, NNPGs concluded that a settlement of the prolonged Indo-Naga political conflict would go a long way towards enabling the “other India” to feel “at home, respected and recognised.”
