Assam & Nagaland CMs gives media the slip
Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 21
The media and the public at large continued to be in the dark with regard to the resumption of talks between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) even as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made a flying visit to Dimapur on September 21.
Sarma flew in to Dimapur today to meet Nagaland government officials and NSCN (IM) leaders. His stay in Dimapur, which lasted some 3-4 hours, was however shrouded in mystery with Sarma giving the slip to the media at the Nagaland Police Complex, Chümoukedima, where the meeting was supposed to be held.
It turned out that he first met a host of Nagaland legislators at Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s private residence at Sovima, Dimapur before dropping in at the Police Complex in the afternoon. The legislators he met were mostly from the BJP and NPF, aside from CM Rio.
The two CMs subsequently met NSCN (IM) General Secretary Th Muivah at the Police Complex. The Police Conference Hall, where the meeting took place, was out of bounds to the media. They then headed to the Niathu Resort where they briefly sat down again.
Sarma’s role in the talks remained unclear but as per what he posted on Twitter later in the evening, he held “a discussion with NSCN (IM) representatives in presence of Nagaland HCM Sri @Neiphiu_Rio about the ongoing peace talks with GoI.” He added that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah “are committed to ensure ever-lasting peace in the North East.”
A second tweet stated that he also discussed with Rio the political scenario in Nagaland as well as the state’s Assembly, scheduled in early 2023, and the North-East Democratic Alliance’s role in it.
