GUWAHATI: The Working Committee (WC) of Naga National Political Groups, which is an umbrella organisation of seven rebel outfits in peace mode, slammed Nagaland BJP chief Temjen Imna Along and his “cohorts” for “greatly hampering” the progress and fruition of the Naga political talks.
The WC said that while the BJP government at the Centre was trying its best to find permanent peace in Nagaland through a political settlement with the various Naga rebel groups, the BJP’s Nagaland leadership was “playing with fire”.
Along riled the rebels’ conglomerate by not giving an appointment to it. The group had written a letter to him on November 9 for a meeting on “crucial matters” but he has not responded so far.
Calling Along "a man devoid of any principle, an opportunist and morally bankrupt', the WC said in a statement that "he is responsible for misleading the Naga people and betraying BJP leadership in New Delhi."
WC, NNPGs will not allow such a man to represent the Nagas either at Kohima or in Delhi, it added.
“…Mr Temjen Imna Along…has fiddled with Naga political issue and played every dirty trick in the book to thwart the progress of Indo-Naga talks. The treacherous habit of state BJP leadership has deeply eroded the Naga people’s confidence,” the hard-hitting statement further read.
The WC also reminded Along of how the Congress went into virtual oblivion in Nagaland. “In 1998, the Congress went against the wishes of the Naga people by going ahead with election instead of solution. They assumed power uncontested. They failed to honour the people’s demand and rather believed they had wiped out all other regional political parties in Nagaland. The Naga people responded by promptly showing them an exit door,” the WC asserted.
The Congress has been out of power in Nagaland since 2003. The party does not have a single MLA now.
The Nagas at large want a solution to the Naga political issue before elections, expected by February-end.
They had raised the demand ahead of the 2018 polls but the BJP had then said “election is for solution”.
However, the Working Committee warned, "The politics of election for solution has failed."
"If election is enforced in Nagaland against the people’s demand for honourable and acceptable negotiated political settlement, men like Mr Temjen Imna Along as per their trivial activities will most certainly ensure a wipeout of BJP from Nagaland", it added.
The 1998 Congress debacle and subsequent punishment is similarly staring at Nagaland BJP in the face, it said.