The Hindu : 'Centre trying to destabilise Cong. Govts.'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 31, 2003

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National

'Centre trying to destabilise Cong. Govts.'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 30. Political developments in Arunachal Pradesh continued to find an echo in Parliament today with the Congress stalling the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.

A party delegation also met the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and expressed concern over what they called the involvement of a Naga insurgent group.

The delegation, led by Manmohan Singh, told Mr. Vajpayee that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) was trying to control the fate of a duly-elected State Government.

The Prime Minister assured the delegation — which included Pranab Mukherjee, Motilal Vora, Ambika Soni, Suresh Pa0 report.

Briefing presspersons later, Dr. Manmohan Singh said the party felt that the Naga group was playing a key role in intimidating people and influencing the conduct of legislators. The Centre, which was holding talks with the Naga group, had to ensure that the ground rules were adhered to.

Also, if the activity of the group was not checked, it could become bold enough to change the complexion of Governments in other States of the region.

The delegation said the development in Arunachal Pradesh was not a case of shifting of political loyalties by legislators but one in which a group was "trying to control the destiny of the State Government regardless of the mandate".

Dr. Manmohan Singh said the Centre had declared two districts of the State — Tirap and Changlang — as "disturbed areas" and the Union Home Ministry had formed a special coordination group to contain insurgency.

The State Chief Minister and he had separately drawn the attention of the Centre to the illegal activities of the group such as extortion and murder.

The issue generated considerable heat in the Lok Sabha and angry Congress MPs forced the House to adjourn twice. They blamed the Centre for destabilising the State Government and demanded a statement from the Prime Minister, who was present in the House during question hour.

As the Congress targeted the Government, the Shiv Sena joined the fray and demanded the dismissal of the Congress-led Government in Maharashtra for being "soft" on those behind the recent Mumbai bomb blast.

This raised a din which rendered the transaction of official business almost impossible. Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Bijay Handique, Santosh Mohan Deb and Buta Singh (all of the Congress), charged the Centre with misusing militant outfits to destabilise the Congress-led Governments in the north-east. "The NSCN(I-M) gun power is being used to browbeat my party MLAs, the unity and integrity of the State is at stake," Mr. Dasmunshi said.

The Deputy Speaker, P.M. Sayeed, who was in the chair, kept pleading with the MPs to allow the question hour to go ahead but to no avail. The Congress benches continued to protest.

Unable to restore order, the Chair adjourned the House. With similar scenes being enacted when the House met again, the Deputy Speaker adjourned the House till lunch.

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