Pertinent question to State BJP : Mum on critical posers
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 09 2017 -

No doubt it was signed between the BJP led NDA Government at Delhi and the NSCN (IM).

But the pertinent question is, what is the stand of the BJP led State Government on the issue ?

In raising this question, Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency MLA Kh Joykisan has raised a significant point and it would be interesting to see how the BJP led Government in Manipur respond to this query.

Or more particularly, what is the stand of the State unit of the BJP on this ?

No one knows what the Framework Agreement is all about yet it has sown the seeds of apprehension in the minds of the people and it is this situation which the Congress is more than eager to capitalise upon and grill the BJP led Government.

If there is nothing to be apprehensive about the Framework Agreement, then why is there such a veil of secrecy over it, is the logical question that follows.

Moreover how about the Naga people ?

Are they happy with the fact that they know nothing about an agreement which has been inked on their behalf ?

Or is their belief and confidence in the leadership of the NSCN (IM) such that they are willing to walk the blind alley without knowing which way the road is leading ?

Interesting but then to say that the BJP led Government in Manipur is totally confident that nothing would be inked that would prove inimical to the interest of the State would be missing the point for remember it was none other than Chief Minister N Biren and his counter parts from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh who met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the matter at Kolkata on December 7.

Doubtful if Chief Minister N Biren would have met the Union Home Minister if the BJP led Government here is 100 pc sure that nothing inimical to the interests of the State would be inked in the final pact that is likely to come soon.

The apprehension is understandable and as the Congress has said more than once, there is no guarantee that the seeds of disintegration will not be sown in the final pact to be inked soon.

Giving weight to this apprehension was the statement of the Chief Minister of Nagaland TR Zeliang that the door is always open for Naga integration, which in turn would mean disintegration of the neighbouring States.

So is it a question of ‘if not now, then later ?’

It is against such a model, that the United Committee, Manipur and All Manipur United Clubs Organisation had also asserted that any agreement inked should not interfere in the administrative set up of the State.

Cannot really say when the final pact will see the light of day, but it is significant to note that Lok Sabha MP from Nagaland Nephiu Rio had earlier urged the Centre to ink the final pact as a Christmas present for the Nagas.

A man of the standing of Nephiu Rio will not simply ask for such a present and herein lies the likelihood of the final pact being inked very, very soon.

Moreover remember that the Nagaland Government and all its MLAs have urged the Centre to finalise the issue before the State goes to polls early next year.

All indications that the final pact will be inked soon and hence the urging of the Thangmeiband AC MLA to the State BJP to spell out where it stands vis-a-vis the Framework Agreement.