While the largest regional party in Nagaland, the ruling NPF has expressed doubts over the recent resolutions passed by the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on the Naga political issue, the Opposition Congress is getting support from the likes of the United Naga Council and the international human rights group Naga International Support Center (NISC). This is with reference to the Nagaland Congress adopting a resolution urging the Government of India to implement in Toto clause 13 of the 16-point agreement related to integration of contiguous Naga inhabited areas. This is without a doubt a major policy change of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC). In essence, what the NPCC has now done is to go in for a mid-course correction, which for the party will also ensure electoral pay-offs so it seems.
The State Congress had lost the last assembly election due to what many observers say was the cold shoulder it had given to the Naga political issue. Regional party like the NPF virtually rode to power by exposing the now infamous ‘Bedrock of Naga society’, which was seen as going against the aspiration of the Naga people’s desire for integration and sovereignty. In fact, the Congress for that matter had all along remained skeptical about the recent clamor for ‘integration’, although officially it had always maintained that several resolution to this effect had been passed in the State Legislative Assembly. The recent move of the NPCC passing a political resolution on the integration issue is therefore both a bold move and at the same time raises question mark about the timing coming as it is with the next Assembly Election hardly six months away.
The NPCC stand on the integration issue if at all sincere is a welcome development. However it must also be reminded that its counterpart in Manipur had contested the recent elections and won on the issue of safeguarding the territorial integrity of Manipur. Assurance to this effect was given by the Chief Minister I. Ibobi Singh and none other than Congress President Sonia Gandhi to the electorates of Manipur. It will be interesting because the NPCC resolution calling for integration was made in the very presence of AICC secretary in-charge of Nagaland Ranjit Thomas. From Ranjit’s presence, it appears to be that the Congress High Command in Delhi is in the know of this policy shift in the State Congress unit. The AICC would have likewise calculated on the possible consequences that it will face in the neighbouring States ruled by the party i.e Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh all having substantial territory inhabited by Nagas.
If the Congress party’s stand on the integration issue is merely for electoral gains then it is quite unbecoming of a responsible party toying with the emotions of the public. But if the Congress is at all serious and committed to carry forward this policy shift beyond electioneering purpose, then the party’s stand must be appreciated. Both ways, the true character of the Congress party will be tested in the coming days. And as far as the NPF-Congress spar on the Naga issue goes, politically, the NPF may try to discredit this latest policy stand of the NPCC. However the ruling party cannot lay sole claim for addressing the Naga political issue. It has already been mentioned several times in this column that there has to be some form of political consensus expected from the over ground political leaders when it comes to the peace process. The failure of the Joint Legislators’ Committee for Peace is itself a clear evidence of the squabble among politicians who appear to be under the notion that one can exclude the other in the task of peace building. A broad-based political process has to emerge with the simple logic of involving all parties and only then can a collective decision be expected in which everyone would have a stake in it and hence remain accountable to the process itself. Whether it is the NPCC or the NPF, the question is who will have the magnanimity to rise above politics on the Naga issue?
