There is No Question of Going Public With the Provisions of Naga Accord, Says Kiren Rijiju

New Delhi: Ministry of home affairs has deployed 270 companies of para-military forces for the Nagaland assembly elections, minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju told CNN News18. Many political parties have called for a boycott of the upcoming assembly polls demanding a solution to the Naga problem first.

Acknowledging the problem at hand, Rijiju said civil society boycott is deterring candidates from filing nominations. "The nomination process began two days ago. So far no one has filed nomination because they are scared, because of the pressure exerted by civil society group like NNPG. But the election process is on and some other civil society groups have come out in support. I am hopeful," Rijiju told CNN News18.

Fearing large-scale violence, union government has also asked Army deployed in the area to be vigilant. "We are thankful to over-ground and underground organisations for not resorting to violence so far," Rijiju said. But the Union Government has made it clear that there is no question of going public with the provisions of Naga accord.

Signing of the Framework Naga Accord in 2015 between the Centre and NSCN(IM) was seen as a solution to the vexed Naga question. But 3 years down the line there is no clarity on what the framework agreement was. Assam had recently seen violence after an RSS leader was quoted to say that some districts of Assam will be part of Greater Nagalim.

"We can’t discuss provisions of the accord, unless it is finally signed. When talks are on it is not fair to go public with the provisions in the talks, until and unless talks are finalised, what is the point of going public? Talks are going smoothly, let it come to a final solution," Riju said.

On the question of BJP’s own stand, Rijiju said that the party will fight the elections. BJP initially was part of the boycott declaration. "We don’t want any confrontation. The BJP state president has made it clear that the person who signed the boycott declaration was not authorised to do so. He has been removed from the party."

In a bid to boost the party prospects, Rijiju is slated to travel to Nagaland over the weekend. He is likely to accompany party candidates to file their nomination papers.