“On the contrary, things have moved and moved as per the government script,” a key source told Eastern Panorama.

The negotiations with the most potent Naga militant group had begun way back in 1997 when I K Gujral was the Prime Minister. But despite such a long time span, the talks have not really made much forward movement. The Manmohan Singh government has its share of blame as during the last 10 years it could not make any significant progress.

Whenever it tried something new and apparently desperate, the move boomeranged largely due to inherent contradictions within the Congress party. The Congress chief minister of Manipur Ibobi Singh stunned everyone when in 2010 he was not on the same page with a Congress-led regime at the centre. Ibobi Singh played partisan and parochial Meitei card when he opposed NSCN (IM) leader Thuingaleng Muivah’s visit to his native village in Manipur, something that was agreed upon in principle by the then Home Minister P Chidambaram.

For Modi regime, the northeast insurgency issue including the complex Naga peace talks has been passed onto the bureaucratic horizon. Prime Minister Modi’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval is calling the shots now. Doval is an old northeast hand. He had played a key role in the famous 1986 negotiations with the Late rebel leader Laldenga in Mizoram and is aware of shenanigans surrounding northeast matters.

In his wisdom, Doval, a former Intelligence Bureau man, trusted another retired IPS official and appointed R N Ravi as the chief interlocutor.

Prior to his appointment, Ravi, as most retired police officials, used to write columns for newspapers.

In the process, post his appointment as chief negotiator, Ravi’s controversial remarks in a piece for ‘The Hindu’ newspaper (Jan 23, 2014) that: “the reckless ‘ceasefire’ between the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), a militia predominantly of the Tangkhul tribe of Manipur, for the last 17 years is pushing the Nagas into a state of civil war”, was raked up by Naga leaders with vengeance.

The NSCN(IM) declined to resume talks with Ravi, who their sympathizers publicly said was only displaying “demeaning attitude”.

But on the backdrop of Prime Minister Modi’s neo-assertive style of functioning and his decision to give Ajit Doval-Ravi a freehand, the NSCN (IM) leadership had to reconcile and have now agreed to take part in talks. This is called political pragmatism of Muivah.

In the meantime, however, it is said that the Prime Minister enlisted the services of new Nagaland Governor P B Acharya, who has been a key RSS man and also BJP-in charge of northeast since 1992-93.

“Our understanding is Governor Acharya reached out to the Muivah camp and set the ball rolling,” said an informed source in Delhi.

On his part, while talking to Eastern Panorama in Delhi, Ravi also confirmed, “Yes, the ice has been broken and the talks are back on track”.

In the melee of these developments on ‘negotiator’ and ‘peace talks’, it is also being claimed by certain quarters that Doval-Ravi duo had actually sabotaged appointment of former Nagaland chief minister Neiphio Rio as a probable minister in the Modi cabinet.

The Nagaland watchers say that Ravi does not quite have a positive opinion about Rio whom he had earlier described as someone very close to Muivah personally.

Now that Rio has missed the ministerial berth twice – in May and latest on November 9; it is clear that the Prime Minister is not toeing the script as was assured to Rio last year by Rajnath Singh when he was won over to the BJP/NDA camp.

The table actually turned against Rio and for that matter against NSCN (IM) leadership more when it was reported to Prime Minister Modi that the militant group, which was running its set up from a roving headquarter at Hebron near Dimapur, was also involved in gross extortion demands.

“Prime Minster Modi has categorically expressed his disapproval to such a scenario where extortions would continue and the NSCN (IM) would consolidate their cadre strength,” sources said in Delhi.

Swati Deb

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