DIMAPUR, MARCH 24 (MExN): The Rising People’s Party has reiterated that the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly should lead the Naga peace talks, arguing that elected members are not constitutionally incapacitated from doing so.
“That the elected members of the state assembly are bound by the Constitution of India and are therefore incapacitated to lead the negotiation on Indo-Naga political settlement betrays a limited understanding of constitutional possibilities,” the party said in a statement.
The RPP cited historical precedents, noting that the Indian National Congress (INC) functioned both as a political party and a movement before India's independence. It said that while most parties participated in elections under the Government of India Act, 1919, the INC did so only in 1934 when it contested the pan-India Central Legislative Assembly election. The party added that Jawaharlal Nehru himself was a nominated member of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi in 1945.
The statement stressed that both the Agreed Position and the Framework Agreement constitute drafts of “constitutional reforms” within the Constitution of India. The RPP compared this to the Congress and other parties pushing for constitutional reforms within British India through a dual approach—working from within as elected representatives and advocating from outside as mass-based bodies.
“The honourable members of the 14th NLA may feel that they are hamstrung by their oath to the Constitution of India, but rather the Constitution of India is a ‘Flexible organism’ and the MLAs imagined incapacity to lead the peace talks is without substance,” the statement said.
The RPP urged legislators to view themselves as nationalists first, citing the example of the 12 Democratic Party MLAs who resigned in 1964 during the early years of Nagaland’s statehood.
