A political potboiler in Nagaland

Growing clamour for a separate "Frontier Nagaland" state comprising six districts in Eastern Nagaland along with the call for the boycott of forthcoming Assembly elections in these districts until the demand was met, has triggered a political storm in the state. The pressure is mounting on both the State and Central governments as these six districts have 20 of the total 60 Assembly seats in the state and the ENPO has clamped a ban on election-related campaigns and programmes of announcement of candidates by political parties in these constituencies. Extension of formal invitation by the Central government to the Eastern Nagaland People's Organization (ENPO), which has been spearheading the statehood movement, for discussion ahead of elections to the Nagaland Assembly which are due in February next year can prevent a deadlock. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio taking the initiative to facilitate discussion between the ENPO and the Central government is a wise move. The ENPO is the banner organization of six Naga tribes Konyak, Yimkhiung, Sangtam, Khiamniungan, Chang and Phomliving in these six districts of Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Shamator and Noklak has considerable influence among masses. Ruling parties are worried that ignoring this political reality might jeopardize their electoral prospects. In the 2013 Nagaland Assembly polls, the Congress managed to win only one of these 20 Assembly constituencies against eight won in 2008 as the Manmohan Singh government rejected the ENPO's demand for carving out a separate 'Frontier Nagaland' state from Nagaland. The statehood demand is not new, and it was in 2010 when the ENPO raised it through a memorandum submitted to the Congress government at the Centre. The primary reason cited by the organization for seeking a separate state is the backwardness and underdevelopment of these districts. Historically, the areas in these districts were unadministered during colonial rule and in 1945 these were brought under the erstwhile Tuensang Frontier Division governed by North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) only in 1948 after India's independence, the first administrative centre was established at Tuensang. In 1957, the erstwhile Naga Hills district of Assam was merged with Tuensang Frontier Division and placed under the central administration under a new administrative unit with the nomenclature Naga Hills-Tuensang Area. Following the "16-Point agreement' between the Naga People's Convention and the Central Government in 1960, and the subsequent passage of the State of Nagaland Act 1962 by the parliament, the Naga Hills- Tuensang Area was inaugurated as a full-fledged state. However, even after Nagaland became a full-fledged state, the Tuensang area continued to have Regional Council with Deputy Commissioner as the Chairman and there was a separate ministry for Tuensang affairs till 1973 for a period of ten years. The Regional Council was abolished in 1973. The administrative experiments during the pre and post-independence era shaped the development profile of these six districts and explained the "backwardness" and "under-development" alleged by the statehood movement leaders. This has given rise to the debate whether a separate state with these districts will be viable or whether undertaking a massive development push and territorial autonomy for self-governance like Bodoland Territorial Council for the six Naga tribes under the amended provision of the Sixth Schedule is a viable option to address the problems of underdevelopment. Such debates can be settled only at tripartite-level talks between the ENPO, the Central Government and the Nagaland Government for which the first thing that needs to be done by the Central Government is to invite the statehood movement leaders for discussing their demands across the table. The ENPO has so far held two rounds of talks with officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, but they are yet to get a response to their requests made twice for talks with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. There are indications that the pressure could be mounting for 20 legislators from these six districts to quit to lend support to the statehood movement if the response from the government is delayed. These political developments are coinciding with fresh initiatives by the Central Government to resume the stalled Naga peace process with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) triggering a plethora of unanswered questions. The NSCN(IM) and the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) agreeing to form a Council of Naga Relationship and Cooperation has given rise to fresh hopes of the signing of a single peace accord by the Government of India with all Naga rebel groups if contentious issues of a separate flag and constitution for Nagas could be resolved. There is no clarity from negotiating parties about likely changes in governance and power-sharing following the signing of the final Naga peace accord and if the final settlement will have provisions to address issues raised by the ENPO. The six districts in question are strategically located along the India-Myanmar border which puts the spotlight on the statehood demand. The "Frontier Nagaland" issue will keep Nagaland's political pot boiling ahead of assembly polls.