Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday to discuss the impending Naga peace agreement.
Emerging from the meeting at North Block, Mr. Rio said that consultation with the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) was on.
Nagaland goes to polls in February 2023 and several groups have demanded early conclusion of the Naga peace talks before that. Mr. Rio was accompanied by deputy Chief Minister Y. Patton. The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) of Mr. Rio is in power in Nagaland in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mr. Patton, who is a member of the BJP had told a public meeting in Wokha last week that the Centre should resolve the Naga political issue by August 15. “If not resolved now, the issue will take another 100 years. This is because the general election is approaching and no one knows whether the BJP will be able to form a majority government,” he said.
In 2015, the Union government signed a framework agreement with NSCN-IM, one of the largest Naga groups, to find a solution to the Naga political issue. The negotiation is yet to be concluded.
Before this, the government signed a formal ceasefire agreement with NSCN-IM in 1997 and it was extended indefinitely since 2007.
