"Hopeful of Nagaland to become AFSPA-free in 3-4 years", says Amit Shah in poll-bound Nagaland

Kohima, Feb 22: Amit Shah in his recent visit to Nagaland said, "A huge part of Nagaland has been freed from AFSPA and I believe that we will make state AFSPA-free in the coming three to four years." The Union Home Minister also promised that the issues raised by insurgent organization ENPO (Eastern Nagaland People's Organization) would be addressed after the assembly elections.

Addressing a public rally in the Tuensang public ground of Nagaland, the Union Home Minister said, "A huge part of Nagaland has been freed from AFSPA and I believe that we will make state AFSPA-free in the coming three to four years." He highlighted that a huge part of the state has attained freedom from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act [AFSPA]. AFSPA is an act to enable certain special powers to be conferred upon members of the armed forces in disturbed areas of the Northeast [Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura].

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Further seeking support to register the victory of his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader assured an increase in the free insurance cap under Ayushman Bharat from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. He added that they have completed 53 developmental projects in the last eight years and 142 more are in their pipeline for Nagaland alone. "We have increased the budgetary allocations for tribes from Rs 21,000 crore in 2014 to Rs 86,000 crore in 2023. By using the space technology we have finalized more than 100 developmental projects spread across 13 areas including Nagaland," he added.

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Shah said that the Home Ministry is in talks with the Eastern Nagaland Peoples Organization (ENPO) and promised that the issues [raised by the organization] would be addressed after the assembly elections. He further said, "There are issues related to development and rights in Eastern Nagaland. Home Ministry is in talks with ENPO to address the issue and reach an agreement for bringing development and rights to the people."