Leader of Opposition T.R. Zeliang on Tuesday requested Nagaland Assembly Speaker Vikho-o Yhoshü to convene a meeting of the Joint Legislators Forum (JLF) on Naga Political Issue at the earliest.
Zeliang said there is a need for the meeting to facilitate in whatever way it can towards resolving the Naga issue.
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In a letter to the Speaker, Zeliang said calling the meeting has become even more urgent because the JLF needs to initiate necessary action considering the stand of the government of India and the NSCN-IM on the issue of Naga flag and constitution.
Zeliang said the members were informed about a proposed meeting of the Forum at Rhododendron Hall in Chumukedima on October 4 but it was postponed and no further notice served till date.
Also read: NSCN-IM terms RN Ravi’s handling of Naga issue as ‘strange’
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Drawing the Speaker’s attention to the “negligence” behind scheduling the meeting of the Forum, Zeliang said this is ‘most regrettable’.
He said if the proposed meeting was postponed at the request of governor R.N. Ravi, why has the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker not fixed another date for it till today.
Also read: NSCN-IM firm on separate Naga national flag, constitution
The opposition leader also sought to know if the Speaker is aware of the pressing need for the Naga political groups and the government of India to come to terms and sign the final agreement.
“We the elected members, as facilitators of the peace process, should be at our best and facilitate in resolving the Naga issue without further delay,” he stressed.
Also read: Centre to conclude Naga peace process without delay: RN Ravi
Zeliang said it is very unfortunate that the ruling bench has sidelined the opposition members on this issue regardless of the unconditional support that they had rendered through and through towards this cause.
He brought to the notice of the Speaker that the members of the JLF had unanimously constituted a Parliamentary Working Committee (PWC) comprising 32 members from both the benches with the sole purpose of apprising the central leaders for an early solution.
But chief minister Neiphiu Rio accorded little or no regard to the PWC and sent “wrong signal” to the central leaders on the Naga issue, Zeliang alleged.
He asked if the chief minister had no political agenda while apprising the central leaders on Indo-Naga political issue along with only a few of his cabinet ministers, why did he not include the opposition members in the team as in the past.
“Such action of the chief minister is not in the right spirit of the JLF as the decisions taken in the JLF meetings are to be presented by both the ruling and opposition bench,” Zeliang said.