The Isak-Muivah faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) on Tuesday sought removal of RN Ravi as the interlocutor for the ongoing Naga peace talks.
The NSCN-IM in a statement issued by its information and publicity wing accused Nagaland Governor RN Ravi of creating trouble in the final settlement of the Naga political issue.
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Stating that the Naga political talks is the most high profile peace process in Southeast Asia, the outfit said it is “in a state of simmering tension and reaching the tipping point” all because of “RN Ravi’s vitriolic attack on Naga issue”.
The outfit said Ravi was assigned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to negotiate on his behalf to bring solution that is honorable and acceptable.
But “all the hard work of 23 years of Indo-Naga political talks” is coming to “nauseating end because of the mischief that keeps boiling in the hands of this interlocutor who has become more a liability than anything”, the outfit alleged.
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The much-hyped Framework Agreement (FA) was signed in 2015 to form the basis for final settlement of Naga issue.
Also read: Nagaland: Ravi exhibited serious commitment to Naga issue, says NNPGs
This is the crux of the Indo-Naga political talks now, it said.
“The issue is now in the court of the Government of India that should come out with an undertaking that FA is still alive in its original form and to be handled by somebody other than RN Ravi, who is sensitive enough to understand and respect what has been achieved during the past 23 years,” it said.
Ironically, the sanctity of Naga political legitimacy comes under assault when Ravi made a tumultuous turn using slanderous terms like “armed gangs” & “underground groups” against the very groups he has been talking for years, the NSCN-IM said in the statement.
Also read: It’s not time for negative campaign against peace process: Naga Hohos
The tipping point comes when he ordered the Nagaland state government to issue office memorandum requiring all state government employees to self-declare their relations with the “Naga underground groups”, it said.
This is the bone of contention that has cropped up as Naga people cried foul over such outmoded policy that does no longer fit into the present scheme of things to end a century old Naga political issue, the outfit asserted.
“For quite sometimes Ravi was under NSCN’s scanner when he twisted the Framework Agreement and misled the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the steps taken to solve the Naga issue,” it alleged.
Also read: Clamour for changing RN Ravi as Naga interlocutor grows
The fact is that Framework Agreement is outside the purview of Indian Federation/ Constitution.
“But in his (Ravi) report furnished to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, he manipulated in his own narrative that is far from the actual meaning as very unambiguously worded in layman’s language in the original copy of FA,” NSCN-IM said.
The outfit said: “Ravi craftily deleted the word ‘new’ from the original to justify his own narrative and circulated to the 14 tribe leaders, NNPGs, NTC and Nagaland GB Federation.”
“These people are simply carried away by his manoeurable talkings and made to believe him and portrayed the NSCN on the wrong side,” the outfit said.
It said: “In the Naga political movement it is needless to say that Naga civil organizations played a crucial role in their respective capacities. But Ravi refused to work with Naga apex civil societies like the Naga Hoho, NSF, NMA, NPMHR, etc.”
He only entertained his “yes men groups” and few selected individuals who are docile enough to serve as his mouthpiece and trumpet in the media, the outfit alleged.
NSCN is grateful to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who guided and supervised the signing of the historic Framework Agreement by giving the ceremony a high profile status, it said.
“But the very doings of his representative Ravi has cast a huge trust deficit as his role has come to be seen as nothing short of disowning the Framework Agreement,” the outfit added.