With civil society organizations such as Nagaland Gaon Burrah Federation (NGBF), Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) and Eastern Nagaland Public Organization (ENPO) voicing against elections at this juncture, the Working Committee – Naga National Political Groups (WC-NNPGs) in a press release said today that they are left with no other option but to go by the desire and aspiration of the Naga people – “Solution not Election”.
Accusing the Nagaland state BJP leadership for “playing with fire” when the BJP Government at the centre is trying its best to find permanent peace in Nagaland through negotiated political settlement with Naga political groups, the NNPGs called Temjen Imna Along a “conman and a trickster” who 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 WC-NNPGs said in its press note.
According to the political group, the “Anti-solution stance of Nagaland State BJP President Temjen Imna Along and his cohorts” has greatly hampered the progress and fruition of the Naga political talks.
The political group said how “the evasive maneuver, non-committal attitude, and arrogance of Nagaland BJP President have accumulated beyond tolerance” and claimed that the State BJP President had “never once exhibited genuine concern and commitment for the Naga cause.”
The WC-NNPGs also pointed out how the State BJP President has yet to respond till date to the 9th November 2022 official letter addressed to him for a meeting on crucial matters.
“Mr Temjen Imna Along has failed the Nagas and his own party. A man devoid of any principle, an opportunist and morally bankrupt, 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,” the press statement continued.
Recalling how in 1998, the Congress party went against the wishes of the Naga people by going ahead with election instead of solution and assumed power uncontested, believing they had wiped out all other regional political parties in Nagaland, the NNPGs reminded how the Naga people responded by promptly showing it an exit door.
“Sadly, the Congress party is struggling to regain the confidence of the people,” it continued.
Asserting that WC-NNPGs is the messenger of the Naga people, the political group claimed that it has negotiated with the GoI in accordance with the desire and aspiration of the people.
“WC has identified and observed numerous selfish anti-Naga solution individuals and groups working day and night to sabotage the Naga solution. The politics of ‘ELECTION FOR SOLUTION of 2018’ have failed,” the group stated.
“Indo-Naga political solution is what the Naga tribes and Civil Societies anticipate. If election is enforced in Nagaland against the people’s demand for honorable and acceptable negotiated political settlement, men like Mr. Temjen Imna Along as per their trivial activities will most certainly ensure a wipe out of BJP from Nagaland,” the group said.
“The 1998 congress debacle and subsequent punishment is similarly staring at Nagaland BJP in the face,” the political group cautioned.