'BJP using armed groups to win 2023 Nagaland Assembly election': Congress

They alleged that the Prime Minister was 'betraying the aspirations' of the Nagas who want peace and settlement

The Congress on Thursday alleged that the Narendra Modi government is delaying a solution to the vexing Naga issue, as the BJP wants the support of the NSCN-IM to win the next year’s Nagaland election.

Nagaland party in-charge Ajoy Kumar and state party president K Therie said that the Modi government has repeatedly told people that a solution to the Naga issue has been reached but it has not even made public the 2015 Framework Agreement signed with NSCN-IM.

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“Our allegation is clear. The BJP is using armed groups to win the 2023 Assembly election. That is why there is no solution to the issue…Is there anything more anti-national than using armed groups to win an election,” Kumar told a press conference also attended by Congress secretaries Ranajit Mukherjee and Vineet Punia here.

Kumar said Congress always puts the nation first and claimed that the party-led government signed the Assam Accord despite knowing that they could lose power in Assam. “But for the BJP, they have to win an election even if the nation loses,” he alleged.

He also alleged that a probe into Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio's assets had been put in cold storage.

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Therie alleged that the Prime Minister was “betraying the aspirations” of the Nagas who want peace and settlement. He said on several occasions since 2014, the government and BJP leaders had claimed that a solution had been arrived at but at the last minute the goalposts were changed.

“We were first told the solution will come after the Nagaland Assembly election. Then we were told it will come after the Lok Sabha election, then it was said it will be after the Assam election, then the Manipur election and now they are saying it will be after the 2024 election,” he claimed.