Says temporary 10-year arrangement subject to review
Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) on Tuesday informed that it has officially submitted its stance to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) on the draft Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) and the comments forwarded by the Nagaland government.
ENPO said it had also conveyed its position to the visiting MHA team and stated that it would also be shared with the state government at the earliest.
According to ENPO media cell, the organization while reaffirming its primary demand for “separate statehood”, was compelled to temporarily narrow down its stance, considering the inability of government of India to meet this demand.
As a result, ENPO said it considered a third option, the “Frontier Nagaland Territory” (FNT), which was an arrangement offered by government of India. ENPO noted that this temporary FNT arrangement would be subject to review after 10 years, and any other unresolved matters would be addressed through a democratic political process.
Taking note of the basic principle as envisaged in both the MoS draft of MHA and the state government’s comments, ENPO strongly reiterated that FNT with executive, legislative and financial autonomy should not be infringed upon, and delivered in letter and spirit.
ENPO also reiterated that the parameters of the offered FNT should not be limited by any article of the Constitution of India or statutory laws, ensuring that the constitutional provisions and statutory laws did not inhibit the establishment of the FNT in any manner.
Further, in accordance to the agreed position, ENPO said “legislative, executive and financial autonomy within Nagaland state”, as envisaged in the basic principle, and all existing subjects in the state should co-exist in Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA).
Explaining that it was articulating its stance to avoid any infringement or complications if limited subjects were transferred, ENPO stated that it would prepare a list of some major subjects that should be placed under “Share Autonomy” category list.
ENPO also listed out some key highlights from its stance which include– permanent high court in the state and a permanent high court bench in the FNT; enhancement of state non-plan allocation from the consolidated fund of India; rescuing the state government from the huge deficits that restricted the state’s progress; Government of India to empower the state government to pass enabling laws under Article 371A.
Further, ENPO said it would demand additional Parliamentary seats in both the houses in the upcoming delimitation exercise besides considering the state under three tribal blocks i.e. Tenyimia, Central Nagas and Eastern blocks, that in the event of having two deputy chief ministers (DyCMs), one DyCM post each should be shared between two non CM blocks.
ENPO said it had included certain sections for the state government for partnering with ENPO on certain priority areas for development of Eastern Nagaland.
Since the FNT would be constituted under Article 371A, as per the MoS that had also been agreed by the state government, the ENPO demanded that the Article be reviewed/modified and suitably amended in order to incorporate the provision relating to the FNT.
The organisation also proposed a conventional power sharing mechanism without infringing the basic principles where both the FNLA and ENLU members could work together under decentralised planning and execution system.
ENPO stressed the need to upgrade and modernize the Village Guard organisation and enhance their salary/honorarium, adding that this also still held very important part in the deal. ENPO said there should be a Joint Monitoring Committee comprising of the representative from the MHA, state government, FNTA and ENPO.
The organisation appealed chief minister Dr Neiphiu Rio to uphold his political statement that “the state government will give full cooperation for the development of ENPO areas, and whatever decision the on FNT the GoI takes, we will be a partner and see that they catch up with the rest of the State and the country.”