One step down from Nagalim : Fifteen years journey and more
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 17, 2012 -

Map of the proposed Nagalim or Greater Nagaland :: Pix - TSE

Tough customers. No doubt about it.

However what cannot be said with any degree of certainty is whether it has been the Government of India or the NSCN (IM) which has turned out to be the tougher customer.

Fifteen years is a long, long time.

A child born back on August 1, 1997 would now be preparing to appear for the Class X Board exams, a 25 year old man then would now have touched the middle age mark of 40 and in a way this is reflective of the 'commitment' of both Delhi and the NSCN (IM) to stick to their pursuit for arriving at a negotiated settlement to the vexed Naga issue.

The report that a solution is at hand is welcome, for this can be seen as the culmination of the long years of the bush war waged by the Naga rebel group before they came to the negotiating table and the 15 years of political dialogue which has seen its ups and downs.

If reports coming from Delhi are anything to go by, the Centre has succeeded in securing a written commitment from the NSCN (IM) that it would accept the Constitution of India.

The Naga rebel group is also reported to have recognised the 'impracticality of redrawing State boundaries in the interest of peace in the North East.'

Effectively this rules out sovereignty for which the Naga rebel groups took up the guns more than fifty years back and this also rules out the concept of Nagalim, a concept drawn up to form a Greater Nagaland by carving out huge chunks of territory from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur.

No sovereignty, no Nagalim.

What then is the possible model that is in the making or has been thrashed out ?

One step down from sovereignty, one step down from Nagalim is the model that may in the pipeline and this is where the demand for Alternative Arrangement gradually begins to look like a distinct possibility.

In 2011 the Guwahati based Seven Sisters Post had filed an exclusive story on the Supra State model purportedly worked out between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India.

Among the noteworthy points, correction points, which may be of importance or significance to Manipur and her people were the clauses for special status or measures for the land where the Nagas of Manipur reside.

These include, special status with respect to law and order and finance. With the then Home Minister P Chidambaram vehemently refuting the report carried in the Seven Sisters Post nothing was then official and the status has not changed till date.

Significantly the newspaper in question here had stuck by its story. It is not so much the nomenclature that is important, but the model that is sought to be worked out.

The report that the Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur are being consulted by the Centre on the resolution being worked out is significant for in a way this is taking cognizance of the fact that these three States do have a stake in the issue.

However it is also important to note that the Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr Okram Ibobi has gone on record to state that he does not know the specifics of the model being worked out.

Whether it is the statesman or the politician in Mr Ibobi speaking is a different matter, but in a way this signifies that there is something missing in the link between consulting the Chief Ministers of the three States and taking them strictly into confidence.

One step down from sovereignty, one step down from Nagalim and it is important that in this process, the entity known as Manipur is not turned into a target for hate mongering.

This is what the people should be wary about.