GUWAHATI: A tribal organisation in Nagaland, fighting for separate statehood for the people of six “backward” districts in the state’s eastern fringe, has accepted the Centre’s offer of “Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT), a “unique arrangement with executive, legislative and financial autonomy.”
The Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) said the decision to accept the offer was taken after a meeting with the central and state government representatives in New Delhi on December 13. Home Secretary is Govind Mohan led the central team. A similar tripartite meeting was held on August 13 in Guwahati.
“During the tripartite meeting, the ENPO delegation made its unwavering stand very clear that the demand of the people of eastern Nagaland is for a separate statehood ‘Frontier Nagaland’. However, the ENPO having considered the difficulties of Government of India at the present juncture had decided to temporarily accept the offer of FNT, a unique arrangement with executive, legislative and financial autonomy,” the ENPO said in a statement.
Given the “significant progress” made, it was decided to have the next tripartite meeting by the second week of January to deliberate on some unresolved issues.
“With the ongoing negotiation on FNT at an advanced stage, the ENPO is optimistic that the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not fail in fulfilling the proposed offer of FNT in the interest of the people of eastern Nagaland,” the statement said.
The ENPO was confident that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio would honour their statements made last year ahead of the Assembly elections. They asssured that the ENPO issues would be “materialised” with full cooperation from the Nagaland government if the BJP-Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party combine retained power in the state.
The ENPO lauded the state government for giving its comments, as sought by the Centre, on the highlights of FNT draft which paved the way for the December 13 meeting.
Further, it expressed appreciation to a committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs for its “utmost sincerity and commitment to fulfil the aspirations of the people of eastern Nagaland without further delay.”
The ENPO is the apex tribal organisation of eastern Nagaland which comprises the six districts of Kiphire, Longleng, Mon, Noklak, Shamator and Tuensang. It had launched a “people’s movement” a few years ago demanding statehood. The demand stemmed from the region’s alleged backwardness.
When Nagaland celebrated its 60th statehood day with the Hornbill Festival last year, people from eastern Nagaland boycotted the event. They had also boycotted this year’s Lok Sabha and civic polls protesting the non-fulfillment of the demand. Nagaland has 60 Assembly seats and 20 of them are in eastern Nagaland.