While the Nagas have been at this cross road, Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) said it was expedient for the council to issue a statement on its “political stance in the interest of the Nagas in general and the Nagas of Nagaland in particular”.
In a joint statement, NTC president Lendinoktang Ao and general secretary Nribemo Ngullie said that on inclusiveness– the vocabulary may not be viewed as too repetitive for the reason that this word has become more relevant to the Nagas of today than to anyone else.
It said that from the past instances of discordant solutions, Nagas had been placed in unsecured environment for too long. The creation of Nagaland statehood in 1963 out of 16-Points memorandum could not satisfy all sections of Naga people, it said.
It further said that the Shillong Accord of 1975 also brought devastative divisions amongst the Nagas. These were adequate lessons for us to become wise enough and to ensure that such was not repeated under any circumstances, NTC said.
In the context of another possibility of Political solution, NTC insisted that Nagas become open hearted, that all the stakeholders such as all Naga Political Groups and genuine Naga Public Organisations be consulted. “That we take each other into confidence and that ultimately Nagas as a people have consensus on all contentious issues and entered into agreement for solution respecting the legacy of Naga plebiscite”, it added.
On transparency NTC said: “In the context of any durable written agreement between the Nagas and Government of India, not to speak of paragraph or a sentence but each word in the content is paramount besides the language”.
It maintained that whatever may be chosen as our demand or to be our proposal for the purpose of a solution should be made the common property of the Nagas as a whole. “No matter how inconvenient it is considered to be, there is no alternative to openness and transparency. This is for the sake of permanent peace post solution in the land”, NTC sated.
Observing that time and again Nagas had the tendency to blame GoI for the inordinate delay in finding a permanent political solution, NTC said “Yet, we have been miserably failing to introspect on our own ability and inability to prepare ourselves for the same solution”.
NTC said it was imperative that Nagas become humble and sincere to complete the ground work by rising above internal bickerings and to be ready for ultimate solution in lieu of blaming one another and also others.
With regard to Article 371(A), NTC said this should be ensured and protected in the event of attaining a solution under the constitution of India. If not for substantiation or enhancement of the existing status of this article, NTC said dilution or polarisation in any manner would not acceptable.