Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 13
The ruling National Democratic Progressive Party’s President Chingwang Konyak said that only a referendum can resolve the Naga political problem. The veteran Naga politician made the comment at a cultural function in Dimapur, on January 13, commemorating the Mech Kachari commnuity’s Aai Sagi post-harvest festival.
“In my personal view, as per the current scenario, solution is a far cry. The factions they talk of ‘solution’ but they don’t seem to be really interested,” said Chingwang, who is also the Chairperson of the People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) Coordination Committee.
Instead of continuously extending the Ceasefire and holding talks, he held that the public should demand solution followed by a referendum. If the Naga problem is to be resolved, he said that the Government of India should put out in the public domain the options at hand and the people be given the opportunity to decide.
“A referendum should then decide the matter (because) I feel only a referendum can solve the problem,” Chingwang said.
According to him, the GoI’s intention, by creating the state of Nagaland in 1963, was to resolve the political problem by giving the Naga people the opportunity and power to govern their own affairs and in the process engendering economic development.
On the contrary, he said that the state has not turned out as envisioned, lagging in many development parameters. “It is because there has not been permanent peace,” he added.
With the Naga national movement splintering into an estimated 24 groups, he queried what the various groups want to achieve with so many breakups.
