Fruits of secrecy over FA? : Crucial Oct 24 meeting

Will the negotiations between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India continue or will there be a breakdown after the October 24 crucial meeting, which is underway even as this commentary is being penned down ? This is a question with which many in the North East region of India would have woken up to on October 24. The interesting point is, why can’t the two sides come eye to eye on the question of a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas even after 22 years of political negotiations? Why has this difference reared its ugly head now more than four years after the much tom tommed Framework Agreement was inked on August 3, 2015 ? Will the Government of India be satisfied with just inking the final deal with the seven groups which together make up the NNPGs, and which significantly came on board the negotiation table only in 2017 ? Will the opposing interpretation of the Framework Agreement have come up now, if this pact had not been kept such a highly guarded secret ? And why has the Government of India suddenly come under the impression that it cannot go on with the ‘endless negotiation under the shadow of guns ?’. All pointers to the fact that perhaps something, somewhere just did not connect and to think that these posers should now come at this point when the final deal is set to be inked goes against the very spirit and understanding of political negotiations to work out a solution to an issue which has dragged on for decades.
There are questions which can be addressed to the Government of India at this point of time. What has happened to the assurance that all stakeholders would be consulted before any final deal is inked ? Has the Chief Minister of Manipur been taken into confidence ? The answer should be obvious to all and if not now then when ? Shouldn’t any proposal be laid before the Chief Minister of the State and given enough time to consult the same with his colleagues, including from the Opposition ? Isn’t this how democracy should work ? Or will be it more of a Centre and the NSCN (IM) taking a decision jointly and placing it before the Chief Minister of Manipur to give his consent ? Such an approach should have no place in a democracy and much of the different interpretations given to the Framework Agreement, vis-a-vis the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India would not have emerged if all the stakeholders had been taken into confidence. The crucial October 24 talk is on and whatever the outcome, let this be the time for the Centre to realise that it always works better to take stakeholders into confidence. The air of apprehension and distrust prevailing in Manipur and best exemplified by the series of alert meetings and mobilisation drives and the march taken out at Khwairamband Keithel on October 24 could have been averted if only all had been taken into confidence. There is a lesson to be learnt here.