To go ahead with January 23 rally
Our Correspondent
Kohima | January 19
The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) today reaffirmed its stand for ‘Solution before Election’ and decided to go ahead with its public rally scheduled for January 23 here at Naga Solidarity Park. This, despite the ECI announcing the dates for polls in Nagaland.
Addressing a press conference here today, NSF President, Kesosul Christopher Ltu appealed that solution should be arrived at before the state elections. Ltu said “Successive NSF tenures have been impressing upon the Government of India and the Naga negotiating parties for early solution of the Naga political issue.”
NSF has participated and shared its stands in every consultative talk called in regard to the Indo-Naga peace process vis-à-vis the political dialogue, he said while recalling that in October last a seven member NSF delegation went to Delhi and extensively deliberate and shared the desire of the Nagas for solution to the long protracted Indo-Naga political dialogue to the Interlocutor R N Ravi.
Ltu said Ravi also shared many things to them and assured that solution will arrive before the festive season. “Memorandums were submitted to the President and Prime Minister of India through Ravi, but to our disappointment the representations could not be taken into cognizance and the aspiration and desire of our people for solution to this political issue was totally sidelined,” he lamented.
Ltu also maintained that in the past few days, representation after representation have been submitted to the Government of India (GoI) by almost all the frontal Naga organisations for solution to the Indo-Naga political issue and deferment of State Assembly election.
The NSF President said that Nagas have regarded the ongoing peace process vis-avis political dialogue with utmost importance and claimed that the act of the GoI through the ECI has once again revealed their arbitrary imposition upon the Nagas by declaring election.
Announcing that the NSF will not subscribe to this declaration of election, Ltu said the Federation shall proceed ahead with the public rally on January 23.
“This rally is the initial step for appealing upon solution and not election,” he affirmed while urging all concerned Nagas to be part of the rally and also all the upcoming steps that NSF would be taking up.
Asked whether NSF would be calling for a boycott of the elections, he said subsequent consultation would be held after the completion of the rally and a presidential council meeting of the federation would be called to take a final stand on the elections. On the criticisms that a student body should not involve in political process, Ltu said students and youth are considered to be the future of any society, and any agreement and dialogue on the Naga issue will determine the future of the Naga people. We are the major stake holders of the future of the Naga people, he asserted.
On recent statements made by RN Ravi that “talks would resume only after the elections,” Ltu said that the “sincerity of the GoI on the Naga issue is questionable.”
Meanwhile, Ltu also affirmed that the Federation is committed to the cause of students in the state and has been taking up issues concerning pending scholarships, school uniforms and text books and MBBS and Agri-allied NEET Exams etc.
