KOHIMA, JULY 25 (MExN): Maintaining that the demand for affiliation of all 163 private schools in the four Naga Hill Districts of Manipur has reached the point of no return, the Naga Students Federation (NSF) today said that if the Meiteis are to adopt ‘ugly means’ to prevent the Nagas from achieving its aspirations, the Nagas can react in a ‘much better’ and intensified degree.
The NSF was reacting to the protest made by the Imphal valley-based Meiteis against the affiliation drive, where the effigies of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Education Minister Arjun Singh were burnt, Monday. NSF President, Pushika Awomi, General Secretary K Elundang and Tribunal General Acumbemo addressing a press conference today insisted that that their demand is genuine.
NSF asserted that under no circumstances, the Federation will back off from the issue.
It asserted that the affiliation issue is not of a recent development, but has been in the minds of the Naga people for a long time and that the issue erupted this time as the Nagas’ patience reached its saturation point. NFS Tribunal General Achumbemo cautioned that anything may happen anytime if the central government fails to address the issue in time. He also said that the Naga issue is people-centered, ‘emanating from the heart,’ while the violent-protest adopted by the Meiteis’ are state-managed and ‘state-sponsored drama’. NSF also said that if Naga wants to react it can do it in a far better way but said that the Federation expect that the Meiteis will not go beyond its limit.
Achumbemo also said that they will meet all the Nagaland Legislators and impress upon them to pass legislation with regard to affiliation of other schools to the NBSE in the next assembly. NSF further said that there is nothing wrong in passing legislation on the affiliation issue as the state government too has a power in the concurrent list of the Indian constitution.However, it said that 60% of the power, whether to implement the affiliation process or not lies with the state government. The federation also blamed the imposition of the Meitei Mayek script on Naga students as the main reason of detachment of Naga schools from Manipur from BSEN.
Besides, the NSF also charged Manipur text books of distorting Naga history as giving undue emphasis on Manipuri history and tradition. The NSF also asserted that sub-standard text books are being supplied adding that NBSE syllabus are the most favorable and most suitable for the Naga students. It is informed that during their recent meeting with various central leaders the letter has assured them of full co-operation and to see the affiliation process is implemented without affecting the career of the students.
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