Guwahati: The National Socialist Council of Nagaland’s Isak-Muivah group has warned of “unpleasant happenings” in Arunachal Pradesh, accusing the government of harming Naga people in the state.
The Naga rebel outfit accused the state’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu and deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein of ‘doing irresponsibly and failing to restore and fulfil the demands of Naga people’ in the Tirap, Changlang, and Longding districts,’ according to a statement released on Thursday.
The group published a statement in September requesting that Naga MLAs from Tirap, Changlang, and Longding withdraw their support for the BJP government led by Pema Khandu and Chowna Mein. There are 11 legislators from the three districts, three of them are cabinet ministers.
‘MLAs who fail to protect the rights of the Nagas in Arunachal Pradesh will be labelled anti-Naga,’ according to a statement released in September.
The demand was made in response to a circular published by the Longding district authorities advising residents of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order Amendment Bill, 2021, which would remove the phrase “Any other Naga tribe.”
The circular came after a law was passed in Parliament in August that altered the list of scheduled tribes in Arunachal Pradesh to add additional indigenous tribal names and remove the words “any other Naga tribe” (on the state government’s advice) (which was there prior to amendment).
In a statement released in September, the NSCN-IM stated that the move ‘willfully undermined, misrepresented, and denied the existence of the Naga people.’