DIMAPUR/DELHI Sept 22 (NNN): The NSCN-IM delegation will hold dialogue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the precise date has not been confirmed.
This time it was the Prime Minister Office (PMO) which invited the NSCN-IM to hold ‘formal talks’.
“Our team will definitely meet the Prime Minister this time,” said a well placed source from the NSCN-IM.
A 10-member team of the NSCN-IM had left Dimapur on Saturday for New Delhi. Chairman Isak Chisi Swu and the outfit’s general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah are leading the team. However, a source from the outfit’s Ministry of Information and Publicity (MIP) said altogether 48 NSCN-IM leaders have left Dimapur for New Delhi in batches in the past few days to prepare for the talks.
Meanwhile, the NSCN-IM delegation is likely to start meeting the government of India representatives in the next few days’ time.
Holding talks with New Delhi interlocutor RN Ravi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh by the NSCN-IM team are likely to be held within this week. However, the NSCN-IM delegation is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi only when he returns from the visit to the United States. Narendra Modi will leave India for the US later this week.
“Yes, the team (NSCN-IM) will definitely hold talks with the Prime Minister and it is likely after he returns from the US visit,” said a well placed source from the NSCN-IM set-up today.
Besides, Isak Swu and Th Muivah other top leaders who are in the team include VS Atem, Q Tuccu, AK Lungalang, Tongmeth, Rh Raising, TT Among, Yanger and Rev Puni.
It is worth noting that no concerted formal talks between the NSCN-IM and the Government of India for a long time, as it was witnessed during the Vajpayee era. When the UPA was in the saddle the relationship between the NSCN-IM and the Centre was more of the blow-hot, blow-cold affairs.
With the return of the NDA at the Centre, the Naga civil society organisations and the NSCN-IM are upbeat and there have been expressions of optimism that something good for the Nagas is coming.