The Naga Intellectual Forum, a civil society organization of Nagaland, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking removal of governor R N Ravi as Centre’s peace talk interlocutor.
The Naga Intellectual Forum convenor Worthington Mahung in the letter written to Prime Minister Modi alleged that RN Ravi’s rancorous remarks against the main negotiating team, the NSCN-IM in 2014 even before his appointment as interlocutor had already instilled mutual distrust.
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Referring to impasse between NSCN (IM) and the Centre, the Forum said, “The present deadlock is the culmination of unbridled monopoly of the whole gamut of negotiation by an intelligence bureaucrat, the incumbent GOI Interlocutor, RN Ravi on the one hand and deprivation of a “political expert” to the peace process on the other.”
“Emergence of various newly formed groups and organizations within the Nagas, aligning and realigning themselves with differing opinions reacting to any Naga unity and Integrations call can apparently be a premeditated move of artful luring and instigation with the idea of creating starkly opposing blocs within, by RN Ravi to neutralize and wipe out a common Naga political cause,” said the group.
Taking a dig at Ravi the forum said, “His brusque handling of the peace talk including the serving of a three months’ ultimatum from August to October 2019 is tyrannical and dictatorial in nature.”
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The group further alleged that Ravi’s term as an interlocutor is markedly observed with a drastic rise in increased militarization to instill “fear psychosis” for submission to a lopsided solution.
“And his willful manipulation of the contents of the 2015 “framework agreement” while surreptitiously divulging a doctored version of FA” to pick sections of his choice is “aggressively deceptive” in nature while obstructing disclosure of the same by the other side,” read the letter.
They claimed that Ravi lacks the three epsilons or basic traits for a good interlocutor.
“It is our humble opinion that any negotiation should be about finding truth and delivering justice as partners contrary to defeating by arguments or by “deceptive mimicry” as against an opponent.
“In case the GOI intends to continue in engaging him as the interlocutor, it can only mean the deliberate intention on the part of GOI to suppress the Naga Political issue,” the forum added.
“In view of the inseparable geopolitical nature of the GOI and the Nagas, we would humbly suggest that it is imperative to reassemble mutual trust and sincerity by replacing the incumbent GOI Interlocutor and also mutually understand each other for inclusion of a political expert to hammer out an ideal solution to the delicate Indo-Naga political talk,” they said.