Reacting to former Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) president K Therie's statement on Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation's (ENPO) demand for a separate 'Frontier Naga Territory', the NPCC stated that the comments made by the former party president is entirely personal and thus should not be construed as the party's official stance.
Clearing its stance on the ENPO issue while extending support for the same, the NPCC via a press note mentioned, "Regarding our perspective, we strongly support the legitimacy of ENPO's demand, and we fully stand with them in this important cause. We support them recognizing that their demand stems from significant grievances accumulated over time, resulting in a profound lack of trust. It's crucial to highlight that successive governments, both at the state and central levels over the past decade, have only exacerbated this dissonance through their apparent indifference and poor political performance. While we acknowledge some concerns raised by certain sections of the political class in the state regarding ENPO's approach, we also acknowledge the limited avenues available to them to assert their demand within conventional democratic norms".
ENPO further reiterated, "We have consistently emphasized the dangers of a governance system that marginalizes opposition voices, which we believe has contributed significantly to ENPO's decision to resort to agitation. In our view, all stakeholders have had their chance to voice their opinions on this matter, but none have provided a satisfactory resolution. Therefore, we believe the only path forward is to prioritize the voices and decisions of our sisters and brothers from ENPO areas to ensure a dignified and fulfilling resolution".
Consequently, the NPCC has urged the Central government to heed ENPO's demand and refrain from taking any actions contrary to the spirit of ENPO's resolutions.
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