The Eastern Nagaland Legislatures Union (ENLU) had convened a meeting on 22 November with the officials of Eastern Nagaland Peoples Organisation (ENPO), Eastern Nagaland Women Organization (ENWO) and Eastern Nagaland Students (ENSF) at the residence of Advisor Social Welfare and HC&CD Noke Wangnao, in Dimapur to convince the Eastern people to participate in the State Hornbill Festival which is scheduled from 1–10 December.
Even after a marathon meeting between the ENLU and the Eastern officials, the meeting remained inconclusive. The ENPO, ENWO and ENSF stated that they stand firm on the 14 October CEC resolution adopted in Tuensang which was also reaffirmed on 16 November CEC meeting held at Mon town, to abstain from participating in the state Hornbill Festival.
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Earlier on 20 November, the ENLU had also written a letter to the President of Eastern Nagaland Gazetted Officers’ Association (ENGOA) appealing the Association to take the initiative to mediate and facilitate between Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organization (ENPO) and Eastern Nagaland Legislatures’ Union (ENLU) with regard to the deadlock on the issue of ‘Frontier Nagaland’ statehood demand and the participation of the different tribal units under the ENPO jurisdiction in the upcoming ‘Hornbill Festival 2022’.
“The ENLU is of the stand that the demand for statehood which is political, and on the other hand, the Hornbill Festival which is cultural [are] two separate subjects which must not be clubbed together in the present demand for ‘Frontier Nagaland’ state demand. The latter is the show of the rich culture our land is blessed with to the world and those opportunities to showcase them should be accepted with open arms,” the letter read.
The ENPO have made their decision very clear that the seven Eastern tribes will abstain from participating in the Hornbill Festival and the resolutions adopted on 26 August and 14 October still stands.
Meanwhile, sources have also informed that the ENPO is awaiting for an official letter from the Home Ministry inviting the ENPO for a meeting with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss on the demand for a separate statehood ‘Frontier Nagaland’.
Ball is now in Centre’s court, says ENLU and ENPO
ENPO to demand resignation of 20 EN MLAs; Org to abstain from participating in Hornbill Festival
