Raising concerns that the Government of India’s decision to end the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and put fencing along its border with Myanmar will shatter the “fragile peace in the region”, the Rising People’s Party has urged the Naga and Mizo people to stand against these moves together. The party stated that the decision has shocked and hurt the sentiments of the tribal people of Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

In a press release, RPP stated that thee moves by the Central Government would mean, “the erasure of our history and our shared past.” Highlighting how the Naga and the Mizo- Chin people are yet to forget the “insensitivity of the British” for dividing the people, for “administrative reasons”, the Rising People’s Party said that today, “the BJP government of India is rubbing salt into old wounds.”

Instead of working towards a lasting solution in the Northeast, the GoI seems to be pursuing a confrontational policy, RPP said.

Further, the party maintained that ending FMR in the border areas “will be a call to insurrection in the Northeast – already reeling from the ethnic conflict in Manipur – eventually leading to Balkanization/break-up of India. Our shared history with our kins in Burma cannot be erased with security fencing, and it’s important that India’s leaders listen to us with compassion.”

The Rising People’s Party, therefore, called on the Naga and the Zo people to unite and stand against “powers bend on erasure of our history.” Furthermore, it urged the communities and churches to pray “that our Lord may grant wisdom to our Indian leaders, and for the two peoples to rise up as one in tackling an issue having ramifications for our existence as a people with shared history and identity”.