Nagaland tribal body slams 'no entry' diktat against Manipur Naga MLAs

This was in view of the Manipur government’s alleged attempts to sabotage the Naga peace talks.

The 60-member Manipur Assembly has 10 Naga MLAs — four each are from Naga People’s Front and the Congress and one each from the BJP and National People’s Party. Photo: manipurassembly.net

A Nagaland tribal body has denounced a warning to ostracise Naga MLAs and other members of the community in Manipur if they attend a special session of the Manipur Assembly or any meeting for discussing peace talks.

The United Naga Council (UNC), an umbrella organisation of Nagas in Manipur, and Naga Hoho, the apex body of Naga tribes in the Northeast, had on August 23 announced that “anyone defying the Naga political principle and its position shall be treated as anti-national and their entry banned in Naga areas.”

The UNC-Naga Hoho diktat has not gone down well with the Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC). It said the joint statement by the two groups was intimidatory and arrogant, and that they should have instead worked out a mechanism through which everyone is taken on board towards an inclusive solution. “The UNC is an exclusive umbrella organisation of the Nagas of Manipur and it is no authority over the Nagas outside Manipur,” the NTC said in a statement.

The NTC also said that the Naga Hoho was no longer the organisation it used to be as some tribes have distanced themselves from it.