In a twist to the tale, five of the six Naga groups, currently in peace talks with the Centre, have said that the Narendra Modi Government has disapproved of the idea of the unification of Naga dominated areas of the Northeast along with Nagaland to create a ‘greater Nagalim’.
According to a report in the July 6 issue of ‘The Week’, the Centre had reportedly told the groups that it would not grant any financial autonomy to the State.
According to The Week, GPRN/NSCN leader Alezo Venuh, emissary to the collective leadership, said ‘apart from the sovereignty issue, the Union government has also refused to include Naga dominated areas to create a special Naga state’.
Venuh is the leader of the GPRN/NSCN, which along with other members of the working group had on November 17, 2017, joined the peace talks with the Union government.
The conglomerate of five organizations, however, did not join the talks with NSCN (I-M), the other biggest armed group in the North East, which has been in talks with the Centre for the last 22 years, the report said, adding that five groups are running parallel talks with interlocutor R N Ravi, according to agencies reports.
The Week had stated in its report that one of the major issues that has become a road block for the negotiations is the problem of extortion by the Naga groups, an issue which had also been raised recently in the open by a prominent conglomeration of tribes.