Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday slammed the Modi Government over the Naga peace accord, accusing it of not taking Chief Ministers of north-eastern States into confidence and said it showed its “arrogance”.
Opening another front against the Government, Sonia charged that the voice of the three States of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was being “suppressed”.
Talking to reporters in Parliament complex, the Congress president and vice- president Rahul Gandhi, who have been protesting against the suspension of 25 Congress MPs from the lok Sabha, said when she called her party’s Chief Ministers in the three States, who are directly affected by the Naga accord, she found that they were “totally blank” on the issue.
“Nobody has even bothered to brief them, perhaps not in detail, but in a wide sense. After all, our Chief Ministers are directly affected, be it Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh or Assam. So, what do I take from thisIJ From this I take that this Government is arrogant.
“This Government keeps on saying that everybody has to be taken along and that they will hold consultations with all, will take the views of all Chief Ministers. Then what happenedIJ Their arrogance is now even more clear than before. And it is an insult not only to the Chief Ministers, but to the people of these States and to the federal structure of our country,” Sonia said.
The Centre on August 3 signed an accord with key outfit NSCN (IM), which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described as a “historic” step to usher peace in the State. The accord was signed following nearly two decades of peace talks. Earlier, Congress Chief Ministers like Tarun Gogoi of Assam and Nabam Tuki of Arunchal Pradesh had welcomed the accord.
“Our voice is being suppressed in Parliament. The Congress president has said that the voice of three States — Manipur, Assam and Arunachal — is being suppressed. It’s an insult to the people of these three States that their CMs have not been advised. It’s an insult to every single citizen in these three States and to the people of India the way this Government works,” Rahul said.
The Congress president said, “We do not know the exact content of the Nagaland accord. So, we cannot express our views yet. The Prime Minister did call some leaders including myself and said we have very good news. The Nagaland issue which is going on for 20 years is now resolved. I said congratulations to you. When we then called our Chief Ministers, who are directly affected by this and asked them, they were totally blank,” Sonia said.