Congress committed to solution to decades-old Naga political issue: Rahul

Kohima, Jan 16 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asserted his party is committed to a solution to the decades-old Naga Political Issue.

Though a Framework Agreement was signed in 2015 by the Centre and the NSCN(IM) seeking to find a solution to the issue, it is not clear to several Naga organisations what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to do and what the way forward is, he claimed.

“There is a problem that needs resolution… A problem that requires conversation, listening to each other and working in implementing a solution and that is lacking as far as the Prime Minister is concerned,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leader was talking to reporters at Chiephobozou, some 30 km from Nagaland’s capital town Kohima, during his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ which began on Sunday from Manipur.

Gandhi said, “I have been speaking to quite a few Naga leaders and they are actually perplexed as to why no progress has been made… We (Congress) are committed to a solution to the Naga Issue.” The Prime Minister promises things without giving much thought, Gandhi alleged.

The Naga insurgency began in 1947. To find a solution to the decades-old problem, the Centre has been holding separate negotiations with NSCN-IM since 1997 and the Working Committee of Naga National Political Group (NNPG), comprising at least seven groups, since 2017.

The Modi government inked a Framework Agreement with NSCN-IM in 2015 and Agreed Position with NNPGs in 2017. However, the final solution is yet to be attained with NSCN-IM remaining adamant on its demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas. PTI