Separate Naga state backers enthused over Shah’s Jan visit

Guwahati: Union home minister Amit Shah will visit poll-bound Nagaland next month to find a way to settle an over a decade-old demand by seven tribes for the creation of a separate state, Frontier Nagaland carved out of six districts, which has been haunting BJP since the party’s former president Nitin Gadkari promised it in 2012.
These six eastern districts — Mon, Kiphire, Longleng, Tuensang, Shamator and Noklak, are home to seven of the 17 major tribes of the state — Konyak, Chang, Yimkhiung, Sangtam, Phom, Khiamniungan and Tikhir, which have been pursuing the separate state demand since 2010, under the aegis of the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO).
A source said Shah is likely to visit Tuensang and decide the further course of action. A delegation of 11 of ENPO and Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland, S Phangnon Konyak, met Shah at his residence in New Delhi on Tuesday to deliberate on the Frontier Nagaland statehood demand.
The ENPO said the meeting was “successful.” It issued a statement saying Shah “appreciated the Eastern people for being a part of the nation building thus far, which PM Narendra Modi was also aware of” and “he stated that the grievances and request for separate entity is understood.”