Pointing out that a divorce weakens a family, former Nagaland chief minister SC Jamir, on Tuesday said that it is unfair of the leaders of Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation to talk about separation from Nagaland.
A divorce weakens a family, so after over 60 years, why talk about divorce now? Jamir had said during an interaction with media persons at Longsa village in Mokokchung district. Instead of demanding for Frontier Naga Territory, he said that the ENPO leaders need to pay attention to the grassroot issues such as road connectivity, education standard, health care system, economic development, agriculture development, etc.
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SC Jamir maintained that the pioneer leadership of Eastern Nagaland had “never raised the issue of separation from Nagaland because it belongs to all of us”.
He gave credit to representatives from the erstwhile Tuensang Frontier Division and the then Naga Hills who decided to come together under a separate administrative unit known as Naga Hills Tuensang Area (NHTA). “They were the stalwarts of that point of time, they had political vision, they had political foresight that unless the Nagas come to the same family, it will not be strong,” he added.
Jamir also mentioned how the representatives of all Naga tribes participated in the debate, in the discussion and in the deliberations at the 3rd Naga People’s Convention in 1959 where a unanimous resolution was made to ask for statehood.
He highlighted that in 1963, after the formation of Nagaland, a regional council was initiated for the Eastern areas and there was a cabinet minister specifically assigned to look into the affairs of Tuensang district since it was economically and educationally backward. However, after just three years, the leaders of the region voluntarily ended the council system.
SC Jamir also pointed out how over the years, important portfolios have been given to MLAs from Tuensang and even sent people from the region to represent Nagaland in the Parliament, “in order to broaden their outlook and their standing in Nagaland.”
The former chief minister asserted that from the very beginning of the formation of the Nagaland, the State has been committed to ensuring that a special treatment be made to the Eastern Nagaland areas.
