DIMAPUR, APRIL 27 (MExN): The Working Committee-Naga National Political Groups (WC, NNPG) has taken exception on the remarks made by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Nagaland welcoming the proposed oil exploration to be taken up between the Nagaland-Assam governments along the disputed boundary.
Terming it as regrettable, the WC, NNPG in a press statement on Thursday said the “NCP and other restless individuals and organisations itching to ink MoU for oil exploration with Assam in Naga areas must answer the people of Nagaland first.”
It also questioned the NCP and the State Government of how much money they have been paid by the oil companies and Assam Government. The oil bearing area belongs to Nagaland and the “whole exercise of granting legitimacy to Assam Government, at one stroke, to co-own and extract oil from Naga areas is a criminal act” and therefore unacceptable, it asserted.
The WC, NNPG also expressed concern that there would be claimants to other Naga oil-bearing areas encouraged by the proposed MoU and therefore the deal must be called off. The joint oil exploration will be “treachery of the highest order and the sell out of Naga people’s assets for cheap profit” devaluing our historical rights, it added.
It further questioned as on what legal and historical basis had the NCP Nagaland commented that oil exploration and political issue are separate issues. It stated that “political issue and petroleum issue is woven in a single fabric and therefore NCP legislators as politicians themselves must not play ordinary politics of this nature.”
“Forging one’s own principles identity as a party is advisable. How can natural resources in Naga ancestral soil, for which thousands of Nagas from the time of Britishers, sacrificed their lives for, and continue to do so, be separated from the Naga political discourse?,” it questioned.
While maintaining that the political leadership of India was working tirelessly towards an inclusive Indo-Naga political solution, the WC, NNPG stated that a “Rio or a Himanta inking joint exploration deals for seeking royalties from companies or neighbouring states will not serve the purpose.”
