State BJP president and minister higher education and tribal affairs, Imna Along is under fire for his purported remarks that solution to the Naga political issue should come under the ambit of the Constitution of India.
Ao Region NSCN (I-M): CAO, Ao Region, NSCN (I-M) has expressed indignation at Temjen Imna Along for his “irresponsible utterance” and said this was meant to please “his BJP/RSS mentors in Delhi”.
In a release, Ao Region also expressed shock at Along’s “feigned ignorance” of his root and “God-given history and political identity” of Naga people.
Ao Region said hit at out Along’s “ loud-mouthed Indianised politics” which it said, finally exploded when he made nonsense of his TV interview stating that Naga solution would be under Indian constitution and Indian Union. It said this was highly obnoxious of Along to undermine Naga political issue in such a demeaning manner.
It further reminded Along that negotiations that followed after the first “Indo-Naga ceasefire” in 1964 failed for the very reason that Government of India was not willing to accept the Naga issue as a political issue. The Region also claimed that Naga negotiators, under Naga National Council (NNC) stood firm against all kinds of pressures and made their stand loud and clear, that Nagas would not accept the Indian constitution.
Having seen the 1964 ceasefire and Shillong Accord 1975 and learning the lesson the hard way, Ao Region said the present “ongoing Indo-Naga political peace process” was the result of the initiative taken by then Prime Minister of India Narasimha Rao, who officially acknowledged the Naga issue as political issue and not India’s “law and order” issue.
It reminded Along that by his “intoxicated statement on Naga issue” Along has made himself nothing less than a political pariah.
JD(U): In another release, Janata Dal United (JDU) Nagaland unit said it was disturbed by the opening statement of State BJP president Imna Along after formation of Core Committee on Naga Political Issue (CCNPI) on solution of the Naga political issue.
JDU observed that while the working perimeter of the newly-formed CCNPI was still to be declared, Along’s statement had already made it loud and clear, the limitations of CCNPI.
JDU reminded Along about the genesis of political talks between Government of India (GoI) and Naga national workers, especially with NSCN-IM, based on three pre-mediated principles – at the highest level (i.e. Prime Ministerial level), in a third country and without any pre-condition.
Since the talks were directly between the government of India and Naga national workers, JDU said it was absolute nonsense for any third party to make a curtailing interference.
Instead of ameliorating the stalemate obviously visible, JSU alleged that the pre-conditions set by Along had only vitiated the atmosphere of the ongoing talks. The party accused him of deliberately belittling the uniqueness of Naga cause and undermining the agreed principles of the ongoing dialogue.
Admitting that all political parties were bound by an allegiance to the Indian constitution, JDU, however, asserted that this did not imply that fact of Naga nationalism, which preceded India’s independence, should be thrown to the thin air just to safeguard a temporary position.
JDU therefore demanded that both CCNPI and BJP Nagaland clarify their position as to whether the precondition declared by Along was his personal statement or of CCNPI or BJP, in the larger interest of Naga people and for posterity.