Nagaland wants fix for insurgency before election

GUWAHATI: Various groups and political parties in Nagaland have urged the Centre to postpone the upcoming assembly elections in the state till a final solution to the seven-decade-old Naga insurgency is found.

Groups like Nagaland Tribes Council and Central Nagaland Tribes Council have written to PM Narendra Modi in the past weeks with the request to defer polls. The influential Gaon Burrah Federation of Nagaland, which comprises village chiefs, and Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) have also written to Modi with the same demand.

The term of the present assembly, elected in 2013, expires on March 13 and elections are expected to be held next month, along with Meghalaya and Tripura. CM TR Zeliang met Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday and apprised him of the popular “Solution before Election” demand. “He assured Zeliang he would convene a meeting on the demand of the Naga people and convey the outcome of the meeting to the Nagaland government,” a release issued by the chief minister’s office said.

Zeliang’s Naga People’s Front heads the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland coalition government in the state of which the BJP is a part. Last month, the state assembly passed a resolution urging New Delhi to “usher in an acceptable solution to the Naga political issue before assembly election.