To refresh our memories, in the run-up to the most recent Nagaland assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 21 February said that the government will come out with a solution to ENPO’s demands after the polls and urged voters to vote for BJP and NDPP. Fast-forward five months and what we have, at least as per media reports, is that the ENPO and the Government of India have reached an understanding. Or, in other words, the demand for a separate state of Frontier Nagaland has fizzled out for whatever reasons. ENPO was demanding separate statehood, election came, Shah arrived, BJP-NDPP came back to power, and ENPO got Frontier Naga Territory – a separate arrangement although not a separate statehood as initially demanded. Smooth. Or so it seems.
Lok Sabha elections are due in 2024 and there is going to be a lot of politicking happening. The proposed Frontier Naga Territory is yet to be implemented. The Nagaland state government is now reportedly party to the talks and it is said that the final ‘agreement’ would be a tripartite one involving the GoI, the ENPO and the Nagaland state government. Mention may be made here of the 8 tribal hohos of Nagaland, who initially appealed to ENPO to reconsider their demand, have urged the Nagaland government to include them in the ‘decision making process or agreement’. This was followed by the recent statement made by the Working Committee of the NNPGs leveling some sore allegations to which the ENPO is yet to respond if at all. Things suddenly seem to be not so smooth, after all.
Electoral politics through divisive policies is detestable. Ideally, the ‘department of dirty tricks’ of the GoI should be held responsible if the ENPO demand is not fulfilled. However, Nagas being Nagas, it is very likely that Nagas of Nagaland will be further divided if the ENPO demand is not fulfilled. Let us hope it does not come to that.