Article 371(A) could end up like Art. 370: Jairam Ramesh

Rajya Sabha member and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh has expressed genuine apprehension about the possibility of Article 371 (A) meeting the same fate as Article 370.
The former union minister and Congress MP said this during the press conference at Congress Bhavan here Thursday evening, where he pointed out that a BJP government that had abolished Article 370 (erstwhile J&K state) could also do the same overnight with regard to Article 371 (A) involving Nagaland.
According to Jairam, BJP abolished Article 370 on August 5, 2019 because it believed in uniformity, while Congress believed in unity and adding, that this was the main difference the two parties.
He said the Congress government at the Centre had inserted Article 371 (A) in the Constitution of India in 1962 to protect, preserve and promote the interests for Nagaland which came into being in 1963. Jairam reminded that Congress is the only party which respected the culture and religion of Nagaland as it stood for unity through diversity, while “BJP believed in suppressing India’s diversity in the name of uniformity”.
Referring to the upcoming Assembly election, Jairam said it was very important as it provided an opportunity to the people of Nagaland “to reject the forces that made false promises in 2018 and repose trust and confidence in Congress which always respected and celebrated India’s diversity”.
He said the Assembly election was “historic in many ways” and expressed the hope that the youth of Nagaland have realised who made false promises of “double-engine government when there was no track”.
Jairam said the past five years had been a period of betrayal and failed promises. He said that in 2018 the BJP election slogan was ‘Election for Solution’ but in 2023 it should be ‘election for confusion.”
On Naga political issue, he said the August 3, 2015 Framework Agreement(FA) was welcomed by many, including Congress who longed for peace, social harmony and development in Nagaland. However, Jairam lamented that even after eight years, details of FA are still unknown and that BJP did not even mention a word about FA in its poll manifesto.
On the state of the roads, Jairam said other than the highway linking Dimapur and Kohima , roads leading to district headquarters and across the State were virtually non-existent. He said even the Dimapur-Kohima road was not of good standard while other roads being dubbed as ‘potholed roads” was indeed a big joke.
On the Jal Jeevan Mission(water), he said there was neither “Jal” nor “Jeevan” but only huge water shortages across the State. Likewise, he said, due to poor electricity supply, periods of darkness in Nagaland was longer than light.
He also accused the State government of failing to properly tap sports potential of Naga youth who have a natural flair for sports activities. In this, cited the Dimapur Stadium whose construction has not been completed even after ten years. Jairam also claimed that development had come to complete halt and corruption had increased astronomically while the people were being led astray by the BJP-NDPP alliance.
BJP copy pasted Congress manifesto: Jairam Ramesh further accused BJP of reproducing a “copy paste” of Congress manifesto which was released ten days before BJP’s manifesto. He said the BJP manifesto contained the same commitments already made by Congress in its manifesto.
He alleged that BJP had repeated the promises made by Congress of giving special emphasis to eastern region of Nagaland.
Jairam also said BJP was reacting to Congress manifesto that had five specific promises for Eastern Nagaland, including mini-secretariat in Tuensang, separate directorate of school education, relocation of DUDA at Tuensang, 33% reservation on the basis of annual vacancies and to take up with the Central government to promote economic relations with Nagas of Myanmar.
He acknowledged that there was a demand for decentralisation of administration in every State, as many areas were deprived of benefits of economic development. He said the case of Nagaland was not unique in the sense that there are areas where development did not reach the ground and hence the demand for greater economic, political and administrative power was legitimate.
To a query on how Congress could justify its current stand on Naga political issue and ENPO demand since both were not recent issues but dated several decades when Congress was in power at the Centre? Jairam said ENPO demand should have been implemented by the “double engine government” which it promised in 2018 instead of putting it up again in the manifesto.
Asked on the silence of Congress on ENPO issue which began when the party was in power at the Centre in 2010 ; also on Naga public calling for abstention in election in 1998 for solution and not election but Congress candidates filed nomination and ultimately secured 59 out of 60 seats as most were elected unopposed , Jairam responded that the priority then was to restore peace back in Nagaland for development.
On the charge that Naga political issue was not taken with all seriousness by Congress, Jairam claimed that efforts for negotiation had started in the mid 1990s and after which successive Prime Ministers continued the process that led to signing of Framework Agreement in 2015 based on the negotiations held all those years.
Northern Anagami II Congress candidate Seyievilie Sachu, also present at the press conference, said he decided to contest because of the deprivation in education and health, rise in unemployment and rampant corruption. He mentioned that he had decided to contest with all seriousness to fight corruption.
Meshenlo Kath, Congress candidate for Kohima Town, said he had decided to contest and give the youth a chance to experience change since Kohima was the State’s epicentre.
Other senior central and State Congress leaders were also present at the press conference.