Mokokchung, November 21 (MTNews): The Eastern Nagaland Legislators’ Union (ENLU) has appealed to the Eastern Nagaland Gazetted Officers’ Association (ENGOA) to mediate between Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organization (ENPO) and ENLU “with regard to the deadlock on the issue of ‘Frontier Nagaland’ statehood demand and the participation of the different tribal units under the ENPO jurisdiction in the upcoming ‘Hornbill Festival 2022.”
With just days to go before the Hornbill Festival begins and the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organization (ENPO) reaffirming their decision to forgo participation in the festival, ENLU in a letter to the ENGOA on Sunday stated that the matter may be considered as genuine and of at-most urgency.
The ENLU is of the stand that the demand for statehood, which is political, and the Hornbill Festival, which is cultural, are two separate subjects “which must not be clubbed together in the present demand for Frontier Nagaland state demand,” the letter said.
“The latter is the show of the rich culture our land is blessed with to the world and those opportunities to showcase them should be accepted with open arms,” it further read.
“Therefore, we appeal to the Eastern Nagaland Gazetted Officers’ Association (ENGOA) to initiate the above mentioned matter at the earliest date for amicable solution,” the letter read, signed by ENLU convener S Pangnyu Phom and secretary general CL John.