| Will the polls toll for IM?
If the report carried in the New Delhi based Hindustan Times in its April 18 edition that the underground organization NSCN (IM) may contest the polls in the Nagaland election turns out to be true then it may mark the beginning of the end to the decades-old Naga secessionist movement in Nagaland. Election to the 60 seat Nagaland Assembly is slated to be held in the early part of next year and if Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu ultimately decide to take the plunge
and contest the polls then it would mark the second time a major underground organization has come forward to take part in the Indian election in the NE region.
The Mizo National Front under the leadership of the late Laldenga had abandoned the bush war following the Mizo Accord struck with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the eighties. Laldenga went on to become the Chief Minister of Mizoram with the then incumbent gladly making way for the former rebel. It may be sheer conjectures but if and when the Naga rebel organization comes over ground and participate in the
election, then the Mizoram model may be followed.
That the Mizo Accord is one of the few success stories may prompt the
Center to study the Mizo Accord and take a leaf out of the agreement reached between the
Government of India and the Mizo National Front. Today Mizoram is one of most advanced States in the North East region and is still making rapid strides on all front, thanks to the conducive atmosphere where
investors do not hesitate to invest their hard earned money and thereby ensure employment and generate income for the State.
However much welcome is the new development, there are a number of factors to be tackled if the NSCN (IM) decides to contest the polls. Will the underground organization be merely satisfied with just contesting the election in Nagaland alone and leave Manipur out
of its larger political aspirations? The presence and strength of the NSCN (IM) is very much in evidence here and Thuingaleng Muivah himself, being a Tangkhul Naga, may want his organization to take roots in
Manipur, his birth place. Moreover the NSCN (IM) is also an organization dominated by the Tangkhul Nagas and they do not have much of a presence in Nagaland.
If the NSCN (IM) too decides to contest the election in Manipur a whole new development may come up and chief among this is the question whether it will forgo its demand of a Greater Nagaland bringing all the Naga dominated areas under one administrative umbrella. All speculative questions at the moment for there has been no official confirmation, but nevertheless very important as the Hindustan Times is a paper or repute and has not earned any reputation for publishing news on hearsay.
There is also the question of the Khaplang faction of the NSCN which is currently holding talks with the Government of India too. The presence of another group, the NNC of the late Phizo cannot be ignored. These factors, the Government of India has to take into consideration if the NSCN (IM) officially decides to take the plunge. Whatever the outcome, the news that the NSCN (IM) may contest the polls in
Nagaland is certainly happy tidings for it will mean a major breakthrough in the peace talks between the organization and the Government of India.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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