‘Outburst’ of Thuingaleng Muivah : Understanding ‘inclusiveness’
This is a powerful statement. Its potential to impact on the ongoing negotiations is immense and maybe it is this potential that general secretary of the NSCN (IM) Thuingaleng Muivah wants New Delhi to know. It is also significant for this is perhaps the first time the leader of the NSCN (IM) has come out so openly and so candidly. The timing is also crucial for it has come at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reported to have told Interlocutor RN Ravi to wrap up the peace talk as soon as possible, but this has obviously not gone down well with the outfit, with Muivah asserting that the time frame seems to be a sort of an ultimatum to the Naga people. It is also more than obvious that what is symbolic to RN Ravi and the Government of India is not so to the NSCN (IM). Constitution and flag it appears are important to the NSCN (IM) and are not merely symbolic points. Goes to demonstrate how far apart are the outlooks of the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India. Or is there something else where the two sides have not been able to come to a meeting point and this is a question which close watchers of the peace process must have already raised within themselves. So what are the other points, is a question which may be probed especially by those who sit on the other side of the Lim demand. Inclusive, this is perhaps the first term in the Framework Agreement which has come out in the open and it is interesting to note that Th Muivah has thought it fit to come out in the open on how New Delhi and the outfit views and understands this term. To the NSCN (IM), inclusive means ‘inclusive of all the Nagas’ and this is again something which would not have missed the eyes of the close observers.
Significant to note that the ‘outburst’ of Th Muivah came one day ahead of the proposed rally at Delhi staged under the aegis of the Naga Students’ Federation and Naga Students’ Union, Delhi. Not to say that this will derail the peace process, but this would have surely jolted the Government of India and Interlocutor to the peace talk, RN Ravi who is also the Governor of Nagaland. It is also important for New Delhi to acknowledge that this has come about after the BJP led Government seemed to have given the needed thrust to the peace process soon after Narendra Modi assumed office as the Prime Minister of the country in his first stint back in 2014. Now this is his second innings in office and it would be a disaster if the peace process gets derailed after the hyped progress. And if flag and Constitution are minor details, as per the stand of RN Ravi, then what other substantive issues can there be ? This can be a sensitive poser and but something which all keen observers of the dialogue must have raised within themselves. The Nagas too must have raised this poser amongst themselves and it would be in the fitness of things and for the peace process for the Government of India to seriously study what other issues there may be. Not spoken out in the public domain, but surely there could be something more than flags and Constitution for Th Muivah to speak out his mind in the public domain.