The Working Committee (WC) of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) on Thursday declared that the Nagaland State BJP has “left it no other option” but to stand for “Solution not Election”, which it said was “the desire and aspiration of the Naga People”.

The WC of the NNPGs, in a press statement, accused the state BJP leadership of having “greatly hampered the progress and fruition of the Naga political talks” with its “Anti solution stance” despite the best efforts of the BJP Government at the centre “to find permanent peace in Nagaland through negotiated political settlement with Naga political groups.”

“The politics of ‘ELECTION FOR SOLUTION of 2018’ have failed.” it announced.

The statement was mainly targeted at Temjen Imna Along, president of the state BJP, who the NNPGs accused of being devoid of “genuine concern and commitment for the Naga cause”.

The Committee went to the extent of saying that Along has “fiddled with Naga Political issue and played every dirty trick in the book to thwart the progress of Indo-Naga talks”.

The WC alleged that on 9 November 2022, it had written an “official letter addressed to State BJP President for a meeting on crucial matters” which he has failed to respond till date.

“The evasive manoeuvre and non-committal attitude, the arrogance of Nagaland BJP President have accumulated beyond tolerance,” it stated.

In the statement, the WC also accused Imna Along of “misleading the Naga people and betraying BJP leadership in New Delhi”.

Calling itself “the messenger of the Naga people”, the Working Committee of the NNPGs gave a reminder of how the Congress party allowed the elections to be conducted in 1998 “against the wishes of the Naga people”. It stated that to this day, the party struggles “to regain the confidence of the people” and warned the BJP of a similar fate.

“The 1998 congress debacle and subsequent punishment is similarly staring at Nagaland BJP in the face”, the statement said.

Furthermore, the WC cautioned that “If election is enforced in Nagaland against the people’s demand for honorable and acceptable negotiated political settlement”, the state BJP leadership will “ensure a wipe out of BJP from Nagaland”.